WP6 | Supporting national level soil health strategies
WP6|Supporting national level soil health strategies
Leading Partner : AFAAS
Supporting Partners : FARA, IITA, CIRAD, ETH-Z, ICARDA, National Partners: CSIR, INP, IRAD, ICRA, MoA, KALRO, DLRC, ZARI, CSRI, INIDA, FOFIFA
Start Month: 12
End Month : 56
Summary
The overall objective of WP6 is to support participating African countries in developing national soil health strategies to better manage soil resources for agriculture and the environment.
Objectives
Assess soil health strategies and policies and their implementation status.
Support countries in the development or improvement of national soil health strategies.
Develop use cases including actionable products, tools, and demonstration maps.
Strengthen capacity of selected national stakeholders to use soil health monitoring data
Description of Work
Task 6.1 Assess regional and national soil health strategies, M13- M36
Lead AFAAS, with support from FARA, IITA, CIRAD, ETH-Z, ICARDA, National Partners: CSIR, INP, IRAD, ICRA, MoA, KALRO, DLRC, ZARI, CSRI, INIDA, FOFIFA. T6.1 will assess and report on regional and national soil health strategies and policies, their execution, including dissemination of soil health sensitive advisories, and their key topics addressed, such as marginalized groups and land ownership. T6.1 will pay special attention to the resources needed to implement the strategy. We will implement T6.1 in phases: 6 countries by year 2 and 7 countries by year 3. A first version of a soil health strategies report will be developed by the end of year 2 (D6.1), with an updated version developed to incorporate country experiences at the end of year 3 (D6.2). Further consultation will be made to agree on the countries to implement it, which will be selected from the consortium partners.
Task 6.2 Support the improvement or development of national soil health strategies, M25-M48
Lead IITA, with support from FARA, ETH-Z, CIRAD, ISRIC, WU, MATE, AFAAS, ICARDA, national partners: CSIR, INP, IRAD, ICRA, MoA, KALRO, DLRC, ZARI, CSRI, INIDA, FOFIFA T6.2 will support participating partner countries to draft, develop or improve national soil health strategies (D6.3) through at least 3 workshops (1 French, 1 English southern, 1 English eastern) divided over the project duration for key stakeholders. To maximize co-learning and cooperation, these will be regional and include more than one country.
To assure synergies and minimize duplication, the workshops will be aligned as appropriate with activities in the Regional Hub for Fertilizer and Soil Health in West Africa, and those in other regions, with continued follow-up to assure support and agreed outcomes. The strategies will include support for the development of national roadmaps to highlight trends of soil health in response to policy instruments, using input from WP3 with specific attention to social inclusion. The roadmaps will include how soil health indicators will likely respond to regulatory frameworks, investments, subsidies, land use and land management recommendations.
Task 6.3 Develop use cases, M39-54
Lead IITA, with support from FARA, ISRIC, CIRAD, ETH-Z, UNISS, MATE, WU, ICARD, national partners: CSIR, INP, IRAD, ICRA, MoA, KALRO, DLRC, ZARI, CSRI, INIDA, FOFIFA. T6.3 will develop use cases that include demand and scaling partners for national-level soil health themes. At least 1 use case will be active in year 1 (e.g., in Nigeria), with at least 2 additional ones added each year, extending lessons learned from each use case to new national and regional geographies.
By the end of the project, we expect to operationalize soil health roadmaps in one country in each of the six African regions through these use cases. Use case activities will include standardized data collection and management, decision support validation, piloting and scaling, and soil maps built on existing and new data (D6.4). Key indicators of success will include impact on farmers (e.g., productivity, profitability, adoption and use of AUSO recommendations). A publication will be prepared.
Task 6.4 Strengthen capacity for improved extension services, M43-M56
Lead AFAAS, with support from FARA, IITA, UKCEH, UNISS, WU, MATE, ETH-Z, national partners: CSIR, INP, IRAD, ICRA, MoA, KALRO, DLRC, ZARI, CSRI, INIDA, FOFIFA. T6.4 strengthens the capacity of selected national stakeholders to use soil health monitoring data to identify or define agricultural practices to be disseminated through national public and private agricultural advisory and extension systems.
T6.4 will define per country focus stakeholder groups and persons, prepare curriculum and training materials (D6.5), and organize regional workshops to disseminate the information. A structured program will start with at least 3 workshops (1 French, 1 English southern, 1 English eastern), ensuring a balanced mix of training, review, and stakeholder engagement. Scaling can be adjusted based on available resources and emerging needs