Ask your Agronomist: You can grow these food crops with saline water

A farmer and an agricultural extension officer discuss a point in a barley farm. Barley is one of the crops that can effectively be cultivated in slightly saline soil conditions. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Soil salinity affects the availability of nutrients in the soil solution and thus the uptake by plants.
  • Saline soils occur due to the accumulation of sodium salts in the root zone, including chlorides, sulphate, bicarbonate and sometimes nitrate sodium salts.
  • To crop in such saline soils as in your case at the Coast, farmers need to embrace practices that will improve the soil drainage and buffering capacity.
  • Crops that are tolerant or moderately tolerant to salinity should be encouraged for production in the areas.

Q: I live at the Coast and the only water available is saline from wells.

What food crops can I grow with saline water and does it affect them?

T.M Hopking

The pH of a soil and indeed water used for irrigation normally have a significant effect on the productivity of a given crop.

Soil salinity affects the availability of nutrients in the soil solution and thus the uptake by plants. Micro-nutrients such as zinc, iron, copper and boron as well as critical elements like nitrogen and phosphorous become relatively unavailable for plant uptake due to salinity, which consequently compromises yields.

Other negative effects of salinity on plant production include inhibition of water absorption by plant roots due to the increased osmotic pressure in the soil water and poor soil physical properties like aeration, structure and drainage.

Saline soils occur due to the accumulation of sodium salts in the root zone, including chlorides, sulphate, bicarbonate and sometimes nitrate sodium salts.

The presence of these salts leave the typical white coloured crust on the soil surface.

These saline soils occur generally in arid and semi- arid areas, as well as areas with generally poorly drained soils.

Reclamation and management

To crop in such saline soils as in your case at the Coast, farmers need to embrace practices that will improve the soil drainage and buffering capacity.

These include the use of manure or other organic matter and where possible till soils in rows and flood to leach out the soluble salts from the crop root zone.

Acidic fertilisers such as ammonium sulphate and elemental sulphur can also be used to manage the high soil pH.

Tolerant crops

Crops that are tolerant or moderately tolerant to salinity should be encouraged for production in the areas.

These include barley, wheat, rice, sorghum and maize to a lesser extent.

Most vegetable crops like tomatoes and beans are sensitive to salinity and may not do well.

For crop-specific fertiliser recommendations, please consult your Yara Agronomist near you or the Yara- Accredited stockists and Distributors in your area.

Vitalis Wafula
East Africa Regional Agronomist
Call Yara on: 0726596050, 0724255370