Abstract
Soil is an important natural resource for sustaining agricultural and rangeland productivity. There is an urgent need for detailed soil and land health information to support sustainable soil management decisions and agricultural practices. In sub-Saharan Africa, water holding capacity of the soil and the content of organic carbon often limits land productivity. By using novel approaches and advances in digital soil mapping and pedometrics based on remote sensing we aim to provide information on key indices of soil health at a scale relevant to farmers. A second aim of this project is to include these soil indicators into the EcoCrop model for spatial suitability modeling of crop species under progressive climate change. Workshops and feedback sessions will be organized for local stakeholders, agricultural extension officers, technicians and scientists on crop suitability models and appropriate land management practices. The project will be performed by researchers at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and will be linked to the Africa Soil information Service (http://www.africasoils.net/).
Sweden