Mr Joseph Lwevuze at one of the chicken organic manure ponds under fermentation at his garden in Luweero District. PHOTO/DAN WANDERA
Poultry farmers out to diversify on their respective incomes with crop cultivation are now finding good soil nutrient fixers from the chicken droppings fermented at the garden manure ponds.
The organic manure ponds that help fix the missing soil nutrients and help soils retain relative moisture is advantageous for farmers already keeping the birds but also engaging in crop farming to diversify on the farm incomes.
Mr Joseph Lwevuze, a catechist and farmer based at Ntangala Village, Katikamu Sub-county in Luweero District, has a well maintained coffee and banana plantation sustained with the chicken organic manure.
At the poultry farm that has an estimated 4,000 birds, the chicken droppings mixed with water are cleared and pushed to the different organic manure ponds strategically positioned at sections of the 14-acre coffee and banana gardens for fermentation before the liquid manure gets to the garden trenches.
“I don’t need any synthetic fertilisers on my farm because the organic manure ponds provide the basic nitrogen fixers for the soils at my farm. The process got much easier after fixing the solar powered water pump at the farm. The chicken droppings that used to be dumped and wasted away, now provide the organic manure with no additional inputs to make soils better,” he says.
The process
At Lwevuze’s farm, the poultry farm workers clear, on average, an estimated 1,200 litres (mixture) of water and the chicken droppings per day. The poultry droppings get to the manure ponds (lagoons) for the fermentation process that lasts between one and two months before it gets rechanneled to the fertility trenches specially dug through the gardens.
“We mix the organic manure and dry grasses during the fermentation stage to make good manure after a period of one month. The trenches measure about one metre deep and at least one metre wide. The organic manure mixes with the soils freely, adding the missing soil nutrients, including the nitrogen,” he says.
The manure ponds measuring six feet deep and 14 feet wide remain open and release moisture into the air that keeps the garden soils moist. As an agriculturalist, Lwevuze has closely monitored the moisture content for areas near the organic manure ponds that maintain good soil moisture content.
“Even the neighbouring gardens that belong to the other farmers are benefiting from the cool moist air that helps the soils not get dry easily. Farmers with gardens near the organic manure ponds have reported the fact that their respective gardens benefit from the manure ponds indirectly,” he says. Through the process of decomposition or fermentation, the farmer is advised to clear the gardens and dig the trenches. While it is expensive to have water horse pipes like the ones that Mr Lwevuze uses to pump and the liquid manure to the different fertility trenches, the use of open plastic containers, including bucket and jerricans, can be of good help.
Manure application
While the chicken organic manure is highly nutritious for the soils because of the high nitrogen content, the manure is best absorbed through the root hairs of the plant and not direct application on the plant.
“You need to allow the manure to dissolve into the soil slowly since it is already wet. The manure works very fast since it gets to the roots directly through the root hairs. The fertility trenches remain the best way of ensuring organic manure benefits the plant,” he says.
For more than four years, the chicken organic manure has been the only source of fertility applied at Lwevuze’s 14- acre coffee farm. Lwevuze discourages farmers from applying non fermented chicken droppings at the farm.
“The fermentation process of the organic manure helps improve soil sustainability and biodiversity because the soil microbes that help to add minerals into the soil remain active and beneficial to the plants,” he says.
Mr Livingstone Ssembusi, a soil scientist and retired agriculture officer practicing commercial farming at Namakofu Village in Zirobwe Sub-county, Luweero District, uses the home made organic manure and believes the chicken droppings from his poultry farm has brought life to his banana and coffee plantations.
“I have a small poultry farm that now supplies the ingredients that form the organic liquid manure for the coffee and banana gardens. We are yet to install the solar water pump to add value to the existing methods that help ferment the chicken droppings before they get to the gardens. Farmers should learn to apply the home made manure to cut on the farm costs,” he says.
Ssembusi recommends that even the cowdung applied directly at the gardens can be better organic manure when fermented and mixed with dry grass. The mixture should be allowed to ferment for not less than 30-days before it gets to the garden, advises.
Other forms of livestock waste manure
While the farm slurry (liquid manure) that contains both plant material and animal /poultry droppings or dung has high nitrogen soil fixers, a section of farmers use the plant material spread used as beddings for the animals to fertilize the soils. The waste plant material is gathered and spread through the gardens to add value to the soil nutrients.
At Mr Lwevuze’s farm, the soil is sandy with a low water retention capacity. This makes the soil vulnerable to nutrient loss because of excess loss of water. The vulnerability of the soils at his farm forced him to adapt to modern farming practices, including the need to get the organic manure at his farm.
“The poultry section of the farm helps feed the gardens. The proceeds from the coffee and banana gardens help to boost the poultry farm inputs,” he says.
