TY - JOUR

T1 - Ethnopedological knowledge and soil classification in SW Madagascar

AU - Brinkmann, Katja

AU - Samuel, Laetitia

AU - Peth, Stephan

AU - Buerkert, Andreas

N1 - Funding information: This research within the transdisciplinary SuLaMa project ( www.sulama.de ) was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, FKZ: 01LL0914C ). We thank the SuLaMa team and our project partners of the WWF-office in Madagascar for their help in logistics and data sharing. The study would not have been possible without the help and translation work of our field assistants and the collaboration of local farmers. We would also like to thank Martin Kaupenjohann (Soil Science, Technical University of Berlin) for helpful discussions on the role of ethnopedology in fostering sustainable land use management.

PY - 2018/9

Y1 - 2018/9

N2 - In the semi-arid Mahafaly region of SW Madagascar productivity of predominant low-input subsistence agriculture is limited by several constraints and food insecurity is a serious problem. Due to the lack of water, dwindling land resources and low soil fertility, improved cropping systems that use available resources in a more efficient and sustainable way are urgently needed. Here, indigenous soil knowledge can help to identify sustainable management approaches of land use. In this context, our aim was to investigate indigenous soil knowledge in three selected villages using participatory approaches, analyze the physical and chemical properties of local soil types and compare indigenous with scientific soil classification systems. Based on the World Reference Base for Soil Resources most of the studied soils were Lixisols and Arenosols. Malagasy farmers classified the soils mainly according to color and texture of the topsoil. Soils with a darker color were determined to be more productive and “Mainty” (black soil) and “Mena” (red soil) were considered as of highest fertility. Although many of the soil names coincided, there was a striking difference between villages, which probably reflects differences in environmental conditions, but also differences in ethnic origin and traditional livelihoods and belief systems. Overall, the local perception of farmers on low soil fertility corresponded to the scientific soil assessment. Given that currently local strategies for soil productivity enhancement are weak which reflects lacking long-term experience in crop management of the agro-pastoralist communities, the results of this study may help to develop recommendations for such strategies that fit traditional belief systems.

AB - In the semi-arid Mahafaly region of SW Madagascar productivity of predominant low-input subsistence agriculture is limited by several constraints and food insecurity is a serious problem. Due to the lack of water, dwindling land resources and low soil fertility, improved cropping systems that use available resources in a more efficient and sustainable way are urgently needed. Here, indigenous soil knowledge can help to identify sustainable management approaches of land use. In this context, our aim was to investigate indigenous soil knowledge in three selected villages using participatory approaches, analyze the physical and chemical properties of local soil types and compare indigenous with scientific soil classification systems. Based on the World Reference Base for Soil Resources most of the studied soils were Lixisols and Arenosols. Malagasy farmers classified the soils mainly according to color and texture of the topsoil. Soils with a darker color were determined to be more productive and “Mainty” (black soil) and “Mena” (red soil) were considered as of highest fertility. Although many of the soil names coincided, there was a striking difference between villages, which probably reflects differences in environmental conditions, but also differences in ethnic origin and traditional livelihoods and belief systems. Overall, the local perception of farmers on low soil fertility corresponded to the scientific soil assessment. Given that currently local strategies for soil productivity enhancement are weak which reflects lacking long-term experience in crop management of the agro-pastoralist communities, the results of this study may help to develop recommendations for such strategies that fit traditional belief systems.

KW - Mahafaly plateau

KW - Indigenous soil knowledge

KW - Participatory mapping

KW - Soil classification

KW - Lixisol

KW - Arenosol

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048728280&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.geodrs.2018.e00179

DO - 10.1016/j.geodrs.2018.e00179

M3 - Article

VL - 14

JO - GEODERMA REGIONAL

JF - GEODERMA REGIONAL

SN - 2352-0094

M1 - e00179

ER -