A study to examine soil fertility status was conducted in the highlands of Southeast Ethiopia situated within latitude 0707?N and longitude 4010?E at altitude 2200 m to 2400 m above sea level. Twenty five farmers who are knowledgeable about soils of the area are purposively selected to provide insight into different soil fertility management practices. Local methods used to identify different soils and to assess the fertility status. Farmers used soil color, texture, water holding capacity, fertilizer requirement (inherent fertility) and workability as a criteria to identify different soil types. However, soil color and texture were commonly used by farmers to describe soil quality. Farmers preferred black and clay soils to white and sandy soils due to their high water holding capacity and inherent fertility. Besides, soil samples were randomly collected from the farmer's field under continuous cereal production systems. The study made up thirty-two sites and each site covered 400 m 2 sampling area. Composite samples of surface and subsurface soils were collected using special auger from three depths (0-10, 10-20, 20-30 cm). The laboratory analysis result indicated the soils are low in cation exchange capacity, low to medium in organic matter, slightly acidic to neutral, very high in base saturation, low to medium in exchangeable bases and moderate in both total nitrogen and available phosphorus. These soils are low to moderate in fertility that requires quite reasonable management. As a summary, the combined effect of both qualitative (local indicators of soil fertility) and quantitative (technical indicators of soil fertility) information would result in better assessment of soil fertility pattern and soil fertility management strategies to ensure food security program.
