With 2015 designated as the UN International Year of Soils and the spotlight on the importance of soil to food security and ecosystems, an article in The Scotsman looks at projects in Senegal and Bangladesh which aim to restore the balance of soils.

The UK and Scottish governments are funding projects that work with local partners in northern Senegal to reverse desertification due to years of agricultural mismanagement, and in southern Bangladesh on tackling the increasing intensity of soil salinity.

Years of monoculture cropping in the Podor region of Senegal has led to a significant loss of agro-biodiversity and accelerated soil erosion. To address this, the project is utilizing agroforestry together with organic manure fertilizer to increase soil nutrients and permaculture approaches to food growing.

In the Khulna and Bagerhat regions of Bangladesh, where over 50 per cent of agricultural land is affected by salinity, the project is helping to empower communities so that they can develop solutions that best need their needs. Local people have received training in permaculture, approaches to food growing in saline soil and techniques to improve soil fertility.

In both projects, “communities are replacing input-intensive agriculture with new food systems, focused on well-being, resilience and sustainability; while paving the way to healthy, diverse and locally produced food in healthy soils,” says the article.

Read the full story: It’s a year to rebuild, from the ground up