USE OF BIO – FERTILISERS

These are from Nitrogen fixing plants
Bio – fertilizers are cheap, easy to use, favoured by socio – economic factors and the subsistence nature of the small holder farming, and environmentally friendly.
There is a problem of low and declining crop yields per unit area of production partly due to low inherent and/or declining soil fertility.
Soil fertility is a major problem for almost every crop, hence the need to solve the problem
The bacteria which fixes nitrogen in legumes can be got from: common beans, groundnuts, cowpeas and pigeon peas.
Why bio – fertilizers?
Nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient element for crop production in many soils.
Legumes such as common beans, pigeon peas, groundnuts and cowpeas form symbiotic associations with bacteria, Rhizobia and utilize atmospheric nitrogen for their nutrition through Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF). Nodulated legumes also leave substantial amount of nitrogen in the soil, which can be used by other plants. It is estimated that nitrogen fixation can supply up to 90% of plant’s requirement, and significant fertilizer savings of above 200kg N/ha. Bio – fertilizers are cheap, affordable by farmers and increase yields by 20 – 40%.