To increase productivity, farmers in Tanzania are being urged to investigate their soils before cultivation and planting, and work with extension officers to incorporate scientific knowledge.

African Seer reports on a recent meeting at the conclusion of the first phase of the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS), of which the World Agroforestry Centre is a partner. Through AfSIS, detailed digital maps, databases and soil assessments have been produced to help scientists and policymakers make site-specific recommendations for boosting food production.

“Poor soil health is the single most important constraint to food security in sub-Saharan Africa,” says the article, and many farmers in the region suffer from chronically low-yielding crops.

Scientific knowledge is vital to agriculture across Africa, especially with the challenges of a growing population, increasing demand for food and variable climatic conditions.

The AfSIS project aims to assess soils across sub-Saharan Africa, providing a consistent baseline for monitoring soil health. The project will develop digital soil maps of different soil functional properties and establish a soil health surveillance system in SSA, providing evidence-based, spatially explicit soil management recommendations to national research and extension providers of selected countries.

Read the full story: Tanzania: Assess soil potentialities, farmers urged