Enhancing access to and use of reliable soil information through an interoperable soil data infrastructure: A review of existing soil health initiatives and data in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania
Executive Summary
Soil health information is a critical tool for identifying intervention areas to reverse land degradation, providing tailored fertilizer recommendations, and supporting policy processes, among myriad other benefits. Multistakeholder actors in Africa are already collecting data and sharing them with their wider networks, but many of these data sharing systems are limited in scope, cumbersome or locked behind institutional barriers. Fostering collaborative soil knowledge exchange could bolster the uptake of soil health data to drive evidence-based action on behalf of food systems, the environment, and people. Despite new continental momentum toward scaling soil health supported by data, there is limited stocktaking or documented baselines on current initiatives toward scaling soil health. This review seeks to address this gap and support the consolidation of efforts and initiatives at continental and national levels.
This review presents findings from a series of stakeholder consultations and a desk review carried out between August and October 2025 by the Landscape Alliance (ICRAF) and the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) on behalf of Norad. The consultations included ICRAF country staff, representatives from National Agricultural Research centers, and the private sector.
The objectives of the review are to:
Establish a comprehensive understanding of existing soil health data, investments, and initiatives in Africa with a focus on four target countries.
Gather concrete feedback from stakeholders on the design, implementation, use, and maintenance of soil health services to inform policy and practice.
Synthesize lessons learned, key challenges and best practices for collecting, managing, visualizing, interpreting, using, and sharing soil health data.
Identify key use cases for soil health data in the project countries to develop access and use of soil data.
Present key recommendations on how to increase the access and use of soil health information in Africa.
Key insights from the review included restraints for scaling soil data collection and dissemination included an overall lack of capacity and experience with sampling design, lab analysis, data analysis, computing, and data management, and a lack of collaboration among stakeholders. This siloed approach has fostered competition for financial resources and mistrust in some cases. This has led to little data sharing among organizations, and while some efforts have been made to integrate data sharing, they are often underdeveloped or not in use. Furthermore, there is new and increasing attention on the need for soil health data, but the focus is still on fertilizer recommendations, while other opportunities around soil carbon (e.g., Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), biodiversity, and ecosystem restoration (e.g., African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100)) are less prioritized. Furthermore, existing efforts to collate data have predominantly centered on one-off datasets.
The insights from the review revealed several actionable areas for the Norad-funded project to intervene and strengthen the soil data ecosystem in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. These include that, while previous data consolidation efforts have been valuable, there remains an opportunity to expand the role of soil information sharing toward more dynamic, longitudinal frameworks that enable the monitoring of changes over time. This would allow for widescale application and use of soil health information, beyond the soil science community. There is also a need for better engagement around the use and interpretation of these data for actual decision making among diverse stakeholder groups. For example, adopting a co-design approach in the development of a data interface, incorporating user input throughout the process, would likely promote sustained engagement and long-term use. There are unexplored entrepreneurial opportunities around soil information, including those led by youth, however, few initiatives are engaging with youth in data collection, sharing and information design. This presents an exciting opportunity to actively involve young people and leverage existing youth networks in agriculture, soil health, pastoralism, and related sectors. Currently, this exercise highlighted that very few people have access to soil data and even fewer use them for decision making. There is a need to move beyond the soil science community for increased use of soil data; very little data makes it back to the farmer.
Despite the constraints that stakeholders may face when accessing and using soil data, the consultations highlighted ample opportunities for strengthening soil knowledge exchange and data use in Africa. Firstly, there is increasing interest and recognition that soil health data is key to achieving continental, member state and donor commitments. By leveraging existing frameworks and networks, soil health data can contribute meaningfully to these initiatives and be sustainable. For example, there is a need for consistent data for Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) reporting. There is also opportunity for donor coordination to support large scale restoration and data collection efforts, especially in light of new tools for soil prediction, including remote sensing and statistical modelling. New tools, such as Soil Information Systems (SISs), can overcome common issues with data sharing, making it easier and user-friendly, and helping translate data into actionable recommendations that can be taken up by farmers and policymakers. Moreover, SISs can contribute to monitoring of key outcomes under continental agendas such as the African Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan and the CAADP Kampala Agenda.
The results of this review can help prioritize and streamline efforts to build a collaborative soil data sharing community toward enhanced action in Africa under the Norad-funded initiative, Establishing an ecosystem of soil data-driven services.
