Understanding farmer perceptions of soil fertility is necessary for the development of appropriate assessment methods for sustainable agro‐ecosystems. This study investigated farmer perceptions of soil fertility and management in four villages of eastern South Africa. A questionnaire was administered to 50 farmers from each village to obtain a general overview of local soil knowledge as well as soil fertility perceptions and assessment. Ten farmers were then chosen from each village for in‐field walks and to gather in‐depth knowledge of local soil fertility concepts, soil‐crop associations and soil management. During in‐field walks, farmers were asked to identify fertile, moderately fertile and low soil fertility plots in their fields from which topsoil samples were taken for laboratory fertility analysis. Local soil fertility descriptors included crop performance and yield, soil texture, stoniness and consistence. Using these descriptors, farmers have developed specific soil use and management practices. There was generally poor agreement between farmer qualitative assessment and measured chemical fertility parameters. However, the study revealed that the generally ignored local qualitative soil knowledge of farmers could be linked to crop performance and potentially supports laboratory soil analysis in terms of its implication for smallholder agriculture in remote areas. The descriptors identified and overall assessment used by farmers in this study reflected considerable soil knowledge employed in daily decision‐making. Action learning and research that links local soil fertility descriptors to soil acidity and specific soil nutrient levels is thus recommended for effective identification of yield‐limiting factors for sustainable crop production in low‐input agriculture.

中文翻译：

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南非东部四村农民视角下的土壤肥力评估与管理

了解农民对土壤肥力的看法对于开发可持续农业生态系统的适当评估方法是必要的。本研究调查了南非东部四个村庄的农民对土壤肥力和管理的看法。对每个村庄的 50 名农民进行了问卷调查，以获得对当地土壤知识以及土壤肥力认知和评估的总体概述。然后从每个村庄中选出 10 名农民进行田间步行，以深入了解当地土壤肥力概念、土壤作物协会和土壤管理。在田间行走期间，农民被要求在他们的田地中确定肥沃、中等肥沃和低土壤肥力的地块，从中采集表土样本进行实验室肥力分析。当地土壤肥力描述符包括作物性能和产量、土壤质地、石质和稠度。使用这些描述符，农民制定了特定的土壤使用和管理实践。农民定性评估和测量的化学肥力参数之间的一致性普遍较差。然而，该研究表明，农民普遍被忽视的当地土壤定性知识可能与作物性能有关，并可能支持实验室土壤分析对偏远地区小农农业的影响。本研究中农民使用的描述词和总体评估反映了在日常决策中使用的大量土壤知识。