ISRIC contributes to soil survey campaing in Ethiopia

Our colleagues Johan Leenaars and Stephan Mantel are in Ethiopia (22-26 October 2019) to prepare 18 soil scientists, from eight universities, for a soil survey campaign covering 18 woredas (districts).

The soil survey will be carried out in the framework of a MOU between the Ethiopia Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the BENEFIT-REALISE partnership. It will generate data to produce soil maps to inform upscaling of improved farming practices aimed at strengthening the current Productive Safety Net Programme. During the training, specific attention will be given to the deployment of a shared, consistent approach wherein the surveyors adhere to agreed-upon standards. These include field observations according to a geomorphic base map, prepared at 1: 50,000 scale, and soil classification according to the World Reference Base for soil resources.