Healthy Soils for a Resilient Future: Global experts mark World Soil Day with call for action in Africa

Leading soil scientists, policymakers, development partners and practitioners convened for a high-level World Soil Day webinar titled “Healthy Soils for a Resilient Future: Turning Evidence, Partnerships, and Inclusion into Action.”

Organized under the IFDC-led Soil Values Program, the virtual event brought together participants from across Africa, Europe and beyond, spotlighting the urgent need to restore degraded soils and strengthen food systems in the Sahel and West Africa.

Soil Health at the Heart of Food Security

Opening the event, IFDC President and CEO Henk van Duijn emphasized that soil degradation is now one of the greatest threats to food production across the continent.

“Farmers are struggling to produce due to soil degradation from Djibouti to Dakar and Cairo to Cape Town,” he said. “Food insecurity is growing, and the only sustainable solution is restoring our soils.”

Van Duijn highlighted the role of partnerships—linking governments, private sector actors, regional bodies and development institutions—as essential to reversing land degradation and boosting productivity.

Requirements for Soil Restoration 

Delivering the keynote presentation, renowned soil fertility scholar Prof. Eric Smaling stressed that Africa’s rapidly growing population and expanding cities present both challenges and opportunities.

Smaling warned against relying on “snapshot thinking” in agricultural planning, urging stakeholders to consider long-term demographic shifts, land use pressures and climate variability.

He noted that integrated soil fertility management (ISFM)—combining nutrient inputs, recycling organic matter and reducing nutrient losses—remains the most realistic path to rebuilding soil fertility.

He also underscored the demographic advantage of Africa’s youthful population: “Other regions are running out of young people. Africa must invest in its youth because they are key to transforming farming systems and driving soil restoration.”

Progress Across Four Countries

Nassourou Diallo, Deputy Director for Partnerships under the Soil Values Program, presented program achievements across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and northern Nigeria.

The €100 million Dutch-funded initiative aims to restore 2 million hectares of degraded land and support 1.5 million farmers over 10 years.

Key results so far include 3,000+ farmers directly trained in ISFM, with 42% women and 46% youth, 92,000 farmers reached through cascading training structures, 147 demonstration plots established as “living classrooms” and introduction of mobile input shops run by youth.

Other results include strengthening of village savings groups to improve financial access, new partnerships with AfDB, AFFM, and Agriwallet to deliver credit and digital services and pilot carbon credit initiatives in Nigeria.

Diallo described Soil Values as “a partnership-driven movement” rather than a traditional program.

Partnerships, Gender Inclusion, Data and Innovation

A panel moderated by Dr. Oumou Kamara, IFDC Vice President of Global Programs, brought together experts from ISRIC, SNV, AGRA and Wageningen University.

ISRIC’s Dr. Francis Silatsa stressed the need for accurate, localized soil information systems, warning that global soil maps alone are insufficient for targeted interventions while SNV’s Mary Hwere emphasized that gender-responsive approaches increase adoption of soil fertility technologies, describing models such as farmer field schools and inclusive landscape platforms.

AGRA’s Dr. Aseta Diallo called for national soil health strategies aligned with the African Union’s Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan, highlighting gaps in land tenure and input quality control whereas Wageningen’s Prof. Katrien Descheemaeker emphasized equal partnerships between researchers, farmers and the private sector, warning that metrics alone cannot capture the social dimensions of soil health.

A Call for Collective Action

As the session concluded, Dr. Kamara reminded participants that transforming degraded soils requires more than technology—it requires community ownership, inclusive processes, supportive policies and strong market incentives.

“Soil health will not be achieved through technology alone,” she said. “It requires alignment between diagnostics, gender inclusion, policy reform, and real-world adoption.”