Kofi is digging the ground, while Amma is watching. What would Amma See?

I could remember this question took many of college students by surprised 😯! About 15 years has passed but I still remember during our final Exams from UCC. When this Agric question dropped: "Kofi is digging the ground, while Amma is watching. What will Amma see? It was only one question which was wearing a coat. It was compulsory question so failure to answer it may lead to ones failure. The exams room was very quite as everyone was thinking what could be the answer. But the simple answer was that: "Amma would see Soil profile."

---

_source

---

Many of my mates mates couldn't identify that it was soil profile. Some stood on the paper for several hours without doing it. For few students who were able to do it were able to answer just some few minutes to the end of the paper. Many people failed the exams that year.

Meaning: Soil profile is the vertical cross session of the soil showing the various layers from the topsoil to the bedrock.

The Horizon A being the topsoil is normally dark in colour. It's noted to contain a lot of organic matter. Organic matter is therefore dead plants and animals remains in the soil. The topsoil has good aeration and moderate water holding capacity.
It's a place where living organisms are found. The thickness of topsoil determines the amount of organic matter present. So, if the topsoil is very thicker, it means it would contain large amount of organic matter.

The B Horizon is the Sub-soil which is normally red in colour. It contain less organic matter. So most crops do not grow well in subsoil especially deep rooted crops which their roots are found in the subsoil.

Horizons C is the parent material. This is where minimal composition are embedded. The colour is slightly clayey in nature.

The Horizon D is the bedrock which comprises of mostly rocks. It doesn't contain organic matter. Most plants roots aren't found here since they are deeper down to be reach by plants.

Importance of soil profile to the farmer.

• Studying soil profile helps the farmer to know the kind of implements to be used. For instance the thickness of the topsoil depicts the content of organic matter as well as how rich the soil is. Mostly large organic matter shows the kind of vegetation at an area and the kind of trees grown over there. If it's forest area then it's good to use implements like axes, cutlass for felling trees. If It's grasses which are grown over there, then it's better to use tools like a hoe.

• The soil profile helps the farmer to know the type of crops to be grown. Every crops response to different type of soil as well as the amount of organic matter present. Some crops are heavy feeders of plant nutrients, while others feed moderately.

• The profile guides the farmer to identify the nutrient content of the soil. This can be seen if the depth of the topsoil is measured. The deeper the topsoil,the higher the organic matter content. And the shallow or lighter the topsoil, the smaller the organic matter content.

Larger scale farming are advised to study the profile level of every soil before selecting the kind of crops to be grown. In the same way, the PH level should also be checked to know the best type of soil to be used for cultivation.

Reference 1

Reference 2