Dynamics of Current and Residual Phosphorus in Tropical Acid Soil

Abstract

The United Nations millennium development programme among other goals, aims at reducing extreme poverty and hunger by 50% between the years 1990 - 2015. This can be achieved through increased and sustainable agricultural production, particularly in developing countries where >60% of the population's livelihood depend on agriculture (Paarlberg, 2002). Halving hunger by 2015 will be achieved through intensification of crop production (Millennium Taskforce on Hunger, 2004). In many acidic soils in developing countries, P deficiency exacerbated by the high P fixing capacities are the main limiting factors for crop production and therefore, P remains, one of the main keys for agricultural sustainability (Chien and Menon, 1993). Therefore, P replenishment is indisputable and requires application of external P sources (Mokwunye and Bationo, 2002) for improvement and sustainability of agricultural production.