Maize production in Africa remains one of the lowest in the world, due to soil degradation and lack of nitrogen fertilization. The solution may consist in making the most of soil diversity. We thus assessed the impact of different soil types and mineral fertilizers on maize productivity. Two maize varieties were grown on three soil types (forest, grove and savannah) with different nitrification rates. In addition, different fertilizations combining ammonium, nitrate and phosphorus were applied to the savannah soil