Millennial Agriculture Ltd in partnership with Fadhili Africa Ltd are offering rapid digital soil testing services

Importance of soil testing:

•  Helps to understand the level of nutrients left in the soil after a cycle of crop.
•  For informed planning on fertilizer use & the regime to feed a particular crop.
•  Saves the farmer unnecessary costs incurred out of guesswork and indicates the exact fertilizer(s)/amendments the soil requires.
• Ultimately increases crop yields

What is tested?

• Soil Macro nutrients i.e. Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium
•  Soil Micro nutrients i.e. Magnesium, Calcium, Sulphur, Boron, Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Copper
• Soil PH
• Soil organic matter
• Soil cation exchange capacity (CEC)
• Soil moisture (if done at field level)

Lead time to receive results

• Within 48hours

Advantage

• We can give nutrient recommendations for up to 5 crops from a single sample,

Steps to get your soil tested

Soil sampling

Soil sampling is basically the activity of obtaining & submitting for testing a small amount of soil

representing the entire field. This entails obtaining soils from different points in the field, mixing them

together and obtaining a small representative sample.

1. Tools needed:

• Soil Auger
• Bucket
• Sample bags
• Marker pen(s)

2. Selection of sampling areas

Areas differing in any of the following to be sampled separately:

• Soil type
• Soil colour
• Previous cropping history
• Previous lime/fertilizer applications
• Slope
• Drainage

3. Sampling depth

Depth of sampling depends on:

• Type of crop
• Cultural practices
• Tillage depth
• Nutrients to be analyzed

Sampling depth for shallow rooted plants: 0-30cm

Sampling depth for trees: 0-50cm

4. Sampling procedure

• One sample to consist of about 20 collections points in the target area
• Collection points to be in a zigzag pattern
• Put soil from all points in a bucket & mix well
• Label sample bag with farmer name, farm name, field ID, sample depth, target crop, date & contact.
• Put 1kg of mixed soil in the labelled bag, seal well & deliver for testing
• Avoid sampling from areas that had fertilizer spills, lime heaps, ant hills, gate areas, livestock congregation zones, poorly drained areas, dead furrows, fertilizer bands, old fence rows or other unusual areas.