Soil suitability for the production of rice, groundnut, and cassava in the peri-urban Niayes zone, Senegal

• We studied potential of peri-urban soils in Senegal to meet food production goals.
• Soil fertility was high for all sites except for one, which was highly acidic.
• Soils showed high suitability for producing groundnuts.
• We observed weak suitability for upland rice and slight potential for cassava.

In Senegal, the peri-urban Niayes region has biophysical and socio-economic potential to contribute to national food security. Peri-urban agriculture highly contributes to the local food supply, but one potential constraint to expansion is soil suitability for new crops. We examined the suitability of soils for the cultivation of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.), cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in a peri-urban wetland outside of Dakar. The selected crops are central to local diets. Study sites were located along a toposequence. We evaluated soil suitability metrics for these three crops based on physical and chemical characteristics. The results show that soil texture varied from sandy to sandy loam. The organic matter concentration varied between 0 g kg−1 and 2 g kg−1. Total nitrogen and organic carbon had low values in all sites except in S4 while macronutrients (Ca, Mg, Na, and K) varied across sites. Calcium was the most abundant cation in the soils; followed by Mg, Na, and K. Based on these factors, we found that there is high suitability for groundnut production in peri-urban Dakar, slight potential for cassava, and marginal or poor suitability for rice production. It attempts to fill the knowledge gap with new data for soil suitability in research development (R&D) in Senegalese agriculture. The same approach could be applied in other areas when introducing new crops for diversification.