The Imperative for Strengthening Soil Information Systems (SISs) in Africa: Reflections and Key Insights from Practice

African Union Development Agency- NEPAD. 2025. The Imperative for Strengthening Soil Information Systems in Africa: Reflections and Key Insights from Practice. AICCRA Briefs. Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA)

This policy brief presents the case for scaling and integrating soil information systems (SISs) as a foundational step toward addressing Africa’s urgent challenges of land degradation, food and nutrition insecurity, biodiversity loss, and climate change. With over 65% of productive land degraded and millions of smallholder farmers struggling to grow food in nutrient-depleted soils, the need for healthy, resilient soils has never been more critical. This policy brief emphasizes that healthy soil underpins sustainable agricultural systems and delivers essential ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, drought resilience, and erosion control. It calls on African Union Member States to develop cohesive, evidence-based monitoring frameworks that enable targeted, locally relevant soil restoration and investment decisions.

The brief offers practical policy recommendations to align soil health indicators with continental commitments such as the Nairobi and Kampala Declarations, the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Action Plan (2023–2033), and the new Ten-Year Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy and Action Plan (2026-2035). It advocates for leveraging existing initiatives, supporting the co-design of SISs with stakeholders, and raising awareness of soil health's pivotal role in achieving sustainable development across Africa.