Abstract:

A total of 191 soil samples were collected from different land uses in the four sites (Tororo,
Iganga, Kamuli and Soroti Districts) in Uganda for soil fertility and texture analysis. Soil
fertility in respect to organic carbon (organic matter), total nitrogen, available phosphorus,
exchangeable potassium, and trace elements were variable but generally ranged from
adequate to deficient with a lot of variations across sites and within sites. Mean organic
carbon varied from very low (1.41% organic C) in Tororo to adequate (2.27% Organic C) in
Iganga. The same trend was observed for total nitrogen, which also varied from very low
(0.14% N) in Tororo to adequate (0.26% N) in Iganga. Only one site had adequate carbon
levels with the rest (Tororo, Kamuli and Soroti) having low organic carbon levels. This was
due to nitrogen fixing crops grown in Iganga (e.g. groundnut), level of inorganic fertilizers
applied in coffee or maize farms and substantial bush/fallow fields (47%) in this site unlike in the other sites where no nutrients are added.