Soil fertility evaluation in Negara Brunei Darussalam

Abstract

A goal of Negara Brunei Darussalam Department of Agriculture is to increase agricultural production and reduce dependence on imported food products by increasing the area of land used for agriculture and by increasing productivity on existing agricultural land. This consultancy project provided supporting information by assessing the soil characteristics and their suitability for a variety of crops and provided recommendations for profitable and sustainable land management. This project generated a number of soil evaluation products that assisted with providing consolidated information and transfer of knowledge to assist with improved land use decision making for policy makers, advisory officers, and farmers. The products included: soil data for 24 soil types, maps, soil identification key, field manual for soil type identification (in English and Malay), toposequence cross-sections, database and land information system, land evaluation calculator, suitability assessment for 69 crops, acid sulfate soil identification, fertilizer and lime calculator, and identification of management options. This paper presents key features for some of these products that were successfully used to communicate and deliver soil evaluation information targeted to the different levels of users in Brunei.