Kick-off meeting Soils4Africa project

Today was the kick-off meeting for the Soil4Africa project. Funded by the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union, Soils4Africa will put in place by 2024 an Open-data Soil Information System (SIS). The SIS will enable farmers, agri-businesses, scientists, and policymakers in their efforts towards sustainable intensification of agriculture and boosting food security; by improving the quality and availability of African soil data. ISRIC is leading the Soils4Africa consortium. T

he Soils4Africa project aims to:

• set up an open-access Soils Information System (SIS) for Africa,

• develop a set of key indicators and underpinning data,

• develop a methodology, using which soil monitoring across the continent can be repeated and continued; and the SIS can continue to grow and be update

​The SIS will be hosted by an African institute. It will become part of the knowledge and information system of the EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA).

Main activities of the projects will include:

• defining Use Cases and indicators for the SIS, in consultation with stakeholders

• designing and setting up the SIS, as an open Earth Observation database

• collecting 2000+ soil samples across the continent

• analysing the collected samples

• developing standard procedures and tools for soil sample collection (based on the LUCAS methodology) and analysis, for work on future development of the database.
  
  

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