Growing Amaranthus as a Means of Livelihood among Peasant Farmers in Africa

Abstract

Nigeria soils are depleted as a result of mismanagement, hence, the peasant farmers experience low yield which scares the youths from taking farming as their profession. For any meaningful transformation to occur, the youth must be involved, well fed with a balanced diet that can keep them healthy and energetic. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of poultry manure and cattle dung on soil chemical properties, growth and yield of Amaranthus cruentus, in order to increase production of Amaranthus as well as manitaining soil fertility Two experiments, were conducted in 2015 to determine the effect of poultry manure (PM) and cattle dung (CD) on growth parameters of Amaranthus cruentus in Ondo southwestern Nigeria. Poultry manure and cattle dung were each applied at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 t­/ha. The treatments were arranged in a randomised complete block design with three replications. Relative to control, application of PM at all rates and CD at 10, 15 and 20 t /ha significantly (p> 0.05) increased plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and leaf fresh weight. Poultry manure increased the agronomic parameters of Amaranthus cruentus as the rate of manure increased.