Maintenance of fertility in dry coffee soils

Abstract

The application to tropical agriculture of practices well proven in temperate climates involves difficulties which are becoming recognized with greater clarity as the detailed conditions are investigated. One of the most difficult of these problems is that of the use of organic manures, a subject which must remain highly controversial until far more detailed scientific evidence on the conditions ruling in tropical soils can be obtained. The views advanced here are an interim interpretation of evidence which is, as yet, all too slender. They are therefore set out in order to promote thought and discussion on a subject most vital to East African agriculture.