Restoring Soils, Renewing Futures: South-South Cooperation for Climate-Resilient Landscapes

About The Event

Low agricultural production and productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the major causes of food and nutrition insecurity of the growing population of the region (van Ittersum et al., 2016), severely constrained by extensive soil degradation that continues to this day. Related, the extent of soil degradation in Africa is alarming. ABout 63-65% of the continent’s cultivated land is reportedly degraded, leading to nutrient losses of 30-60 kg per hectare each year, affecting over 485 million people (65% of the population), and projections suggest that more than half of Africa’s arable land may become unusable by 2050 (AU, nd).

In response to these issues outlined above, the African Union Commission (AUC) convened the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, in May 2024. The Summit emphasized that increasing fertilizer use alone is insufficient to enhance the productivity of Africa’s soils. The Summit recognized the primary importance of improved soil health to increase the efficiency of applied fertilizers, especially on degraded soils, and to simultaneously increase productivity in other vital livelihood niches such as grazing and forest lands. During the Summit, African Heads of State endorsed the Soil Initiative for Africa (SIA) Framework as a long-term framework to improve soil health on the continent, along with the AFSH Ten-year Action Plan (2024-2034) to implement the first 10 years of the SIA.

Clim-Eat is hosting a regional convening in Malawi that brings together soil health pilots and fertiliser subsidy schemes from Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya, in October 2025. This convening aims to share lessons across countries, as each country is doing something innovative. For example, Zambia is doing innovative e-vouchers for soil inputs, Tanzania is doing rigorous soil testing prior to input selection, Malawi is trialling a much less expensive organo-mineral fertiliser and Kenya is keen to try “payments for environmental services”. Lesson sharing and discussion will encourage coordination between countries, spurring south-south cooperation on knowledge sharing to achieve greeted impact and value for money. Additionally, it will identify key messages for global dissemination, identifying key innovations with potential for scale in terms of policy and implementation.