Soils4Africa workshop: Madagascar youth learn soil information system tools
8 April 2024
The goal of the Soils4Africa project is to develop an open-access soil information system and a methodology for repeated monitoring of the soil qualities of agricultural land across the African continent. At the end of the project, the system will indicate the soil quality data of about 20,000 points located in agricultural land, but country organizations can decide to add more. The IITA-Soils4Africa team, Jeroen Huising and Samuel Mesele, are responsible for the field campaign. The IITA team developed protocols and standard operational procedures for the field survey and survey management, including ODK forms, tools for the field campaign, and a database. The team has trained participants of 12 hubs in one-week workshops.
From 11 to 22 March, the IITA Soils4Africa team, assisted by IITA Madagascar Country Representative Cheick Diarra, held a capacity-building workshop in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
The workshop focused on understanding the protocols, standard operating procedures, and tools used to survey Madagascar. The participants trained were all youth, 12 women and 14 men, from different national research institutes and universities in Madagascar. They were trained for four days during the workshop and three field days. They were challenged by the new methods they learned. They expressed their enthusiasm for building their capacity in soil management and agriculture, ensuring a new generation of skilled and knowledgeable leaders who drive innovation, productivity, and sustainability in the agri-food sector.
The IITA Soil44Africa team also met Suzelin Ratohiarijaona, the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Republic of Madagascar, to explain the possible uses of the soil information system, how it can assist in optimizing policy decisions towards sustainable land management to transform the food systems in Madagascar. The IITA team indicated it would be happy to help the government implement and extend the information system for specific Malagasy uses.
Contributed by Samuel Mesele
