State of soil and water in 24 farms in six communities in the municipalities of Santa Teresa and La Conquista in Carazo, Nicaragua, 2017

Abstract

One of the problems in Nicaragua is rural water in terms of availability and quality. The purpose of this research was to analyze the state of the soil in terms of its fertility and the water in terms of its quality. This work was carried out on 24 farms in six communities in the municipalities of Santa Teresa and La Conquista in the department of Carazo, Nicaragua. The methodology was organized in four phases: i) selection of plots and wells to be sampled, ii) collection of water and soil samples, iii) processing of field data and iv) restitution of results of bacteriological and soil analyses with producers. The study variables were water quality, water table and soil analysis. The results indicate that the 24 wells contain fecal and total coliform content and 90 % of the wells located in arid and degraded areas are more likely to dry out in the dry period. The soils are neutral in pH, low in organic matter and nitrogen, and deficient in phosphorus. With regard to potassium, eight farms have low contents. All soils have high calcium and magnesium contents.