Malawi’s economy is agro-based, yet soils are continuously depleted of nutrients threatening development, food, and nutrition security. Current blanket application of fertilizers doesn’t often match with nutrient deficiencies in the diverse soils of Malawi. Further, blanket fertilizer application results in over-fertilization which brings about greenhouse gas emissions from highly fertilized soils contributing to climate change. This study assessed effectiveness of site-specific fertilizer application on soil fertility and maize yield. The experiment was set up in a randomized complete block design with 5 treatments and 5 replications where a hybrid maize variety was planted, and data was collected from the site’s soil properties and observations on maize growth and yield and analysed using JMP SAS version 14.0.0. Results indicated that site-specific fertilizer application was significantly different from blanket fertilizer application at p<0.05. Selected soil physicochemical properties such as Phosphorus (0.30%), Sulphur (24.2 ppm) and Zinc (1.92 ppm) as well as maize yield properties such as dry weight (2.56 kg) and grain yield (7.03 t ha-1) were significantly higher due to site-specific fertilizer application. Therefore, it was concluded that site-specific fertilizer application was the most ideal synergy for improving soil fertility and maize yield while mitigating climate change in maize farming systems.

Keywords: Soil fertility, Fertilizer application and Climate change