Godsteven Maro^1,, Suzana Mbwambo¹, Deusdedit Kilambo¹, Leonard Kiwelu¹

Soil fertility decline in coffee growing areas of Tanzania has been noted as one important limitation to coffee production, thus calling for appropriate remedial measures. This paper reviews soil fertility and its management, with a focus on integrated soil fertility management for coffee in the country. As a general rule, ISFM takes proper germplasm material as one of its tiers. With coffee in Tanzania however, this tier is removed from the sequence following the release and promotion of the 19 improved Arabica coffee varieties and 4 of Robusta, which are considered perfect. A 7-tier sequence is suggested. The first three tiers (terrain management, choice of shade trees and intercropping patterns) are concerned with field establishment and are more or less permanent, while the other four (green manuring, application of manures/composts, strategic application of reduced doses of inorganic fertilizers and soil amelioration) are related to routine management, and can swap between seasons depending on the farmer’s resource endowment. The whole idea is to always have accumulation of organic matter in the soil, which mineralizes slowly to release nutrients for plant use. Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI) will continue research on ISFM and its promotion to its stakeholders through community-based organizations such as AMCOS. Formal and indigenous knowledge systems must become better integrated to allow farmer associations to recognize, adapt, and implement ISFM practices.

Coffee, ISFM, Plant nutrition, soil fertility, Tanzania