Understanding of African ecosystems; initiative that establishes baseline and monitoring for land degradation assessment and rehabilitation

Story and photo essay by: Anthony Ochieng Onyango and Faith Tuarari

From afar, scaling soil health by switching from traditional monocrop agricultural systems to regenerative systems may seem as easy as planting the right plants in the right spot. However transitioning to new systems usually sees farmers’ yields decrease before they increase, which can be a limiting factor for farmers who don’t have a financial cushion to fall back on. Support is needed to help them bridge the gap.

CA4SH is a multi-stakeholder partnership of member states, the private sector, research institutions, civil society, farmer organizations, multilateral organizations, NGOs, and more. Drawing on this wealth of knowledge, we organized the second installation of our 2024 Webinar Series: The road ahead for soil health action to explore different mechanisms to invest in soil health, making sure these investments reach smallholder farmers.

Worldwide, agriculture employs the largest portion of youth (around 60% in Africa, for example), making soil health central to youth empowerment and food security in developing countries where agriculture's contribution to GDP exceeds 20%. Youth can participate in advocacy for soil and land health through political fora, techno-communications, community action, research and more.

Roël D. Houdanon, Founder & Chief Technical Advisor of the Land and Health Association, shares his thoughts on avenues for youth participation and his unique story of moving through advocacy spaces and championing soil health, as well as a case study for youth action on the ground.

March 14th, Accelerating Nature-based Solutions Conference: In a call to address the pressing issue of soil degradation and its detrimental effects on food systems and livelihoods, a recent event co-hosted by the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) and CIFOR-ICRAF underscored the urgency for multi-stakeholder action to promote healthy soil ecosystems across Africa. The gathering, which brought together diverse stakeholders from farming communities, science, policy, development, conservation, and the private sector, emphasized the critical role of soil in sustainable and regenerative food systems.

Scaling innovative solutions, such as regenerative agriculture, has a critical role in facilitating the necessary shift required to address climate change and its effects on fragile food systems.

Farmers in East Africa are making the choice of adopting this approach of agriculture, in combination with new technologies and organic inputs to improve crop yields and replenish soils. This renewed understanding of the interplay between soil health and healthy yields is enabling the transition to sustainable agricultural practices and policy in the region.

CA4SH is a multi stakeholder partnership of member states, the private sector, research institutions, civil society, farmer organizations, multilateral organizations, NGOs, and more. Drawing on this wealth of knowledge, we organized the first installation of our 2024 Webinar Series: The road ahead for soil health action.

“Soils are not just a support: they have to be in good health for agricultural activities to be established and prosper. In Ivory Coast, the Ministry of Agriculture has brought together farmers, policymakers and scientists to work on practical operations aimed at guaranteeing the long-term future of soils in the forest landscapes of West Africa. The participants have made a series of recommendations, including controlling deforestation, reducing pesticide use and extending agroforestry.”

Read the full story from CIRAD

Image Caption: Field study on soil health in the Téné Classified Forest, Ivory Coast © CIRAD

In the small village of Kikandwa, in the Mityana district of Uganda, villagers have transformed their landscape by sheer force of will, a commitment to healthy soils, and by working together to form the Kikandwa Environmental Association (KEA).

SEEADO is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organization that works to promote a sustainable environment and agriculture, and mainstream ecotourism into conservation for the benefit of people and biodiversity.

With increasing droughts, initiatives to restore soil and manage water resources effectively are a necessity to ensure food security, but the clock is ticking, and they must be accompanied by investments in farmers.

By Aggrey Agumya, Sekai Mudonhi for Devex

Aisha and Lukas have been cycling from farm to farm, documenting regenerative farming practices on the ground to realize their goal of publishing a book and documentary to raise awareness. Read their recent blog about their time in Tanzania.

By Juliet Tsuma

“On October 11th, 2023, ILC Africa had a side event on the sidelines of the Global Landscape Forum, focusing on safeguarding tenure security in the context of landscape restoration.”

Read the full story from the International Land Coalition

By Harry Johnstone

“Justus Ndemwa is sitting on an empty plastic water canister. He looks away. His voice is soft and faltering. “For five years the rains have failed,” he says.

Some days, the 72-year-old, who suffers from anaemia, eats only rice or beans. He is not alone. Now because of the high cost of food and the impacts of climate change, millions of Kenyans face hunger every day. As the situation persists, something, surely, has to change.”

Read the full article from The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

“At the Africa Climate Summit, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), with support from AICCRA and the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), convened an important side event ahead of the African Union's Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit later this year.”

This story was originally posted by AICCRA.

At the Africa Food Systems Forum, CA4SH called upon the global community to recognize soil as the common thread weaving through complex challenges such as food and nutrition security, poverty reduction, climate change, and biodiversity loss.

Bringing together stakeholders representing the private sector, NGOs, academia, governments and more, CA4SH contributed to three events at the Africa Food Systems Forum (AGRF) between 4th and 5th September to discuss what scaling soil health looks like, and the vision for Africa’s soils we are working steadily towards.

Gladys Foliyamu is a smallholder farmer in Malawi who has increased her household food security and income opportunities through home gardening. Gladys is supported by the NEVAM project from Agri-Impact Malawi who advocate for making the most of available land through sustainable farming practices.

On 15 May, the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) convened a network session to discuss the potential the Soil Health Resolution offers for transforming food systems as per their objectives. NFP is a consortium of initiatives by Dutch organizations and partners from Low and Middle-Income Countries working towards food and nutrition security and achieving SDG2 by 2030. With soil serving as the very foundation of food systems, scaling soil health is a major part of their remit.

“West Africa fertilizer policy decision-makers and experts issued an official Ministerial Declaration on Fertilizer and Soil Health in West Africa at the close of a high-level round table organized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with technical and funding support by IFDC’s Feed the Future EnGRAIS project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Bank, respectively.”

Aisha Hassan and Lukas Paltanavičius are cycling across the world to learn hands-on about practices of regenerative agriculture. In this guest article on the Furrow, they uncover how regenerative agriculture helps to increase biodiversity.