Strengthening the Capacity for Dissemination of Integrated Soil Fertility Management Technologies in East and Southern Africa

The Soil Health Consortia project is funded by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and implemented by the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) in partnership with more than 200 institutions and over 1000 individual stakeholders. The partners are drawn from the private sector (fertilizer and seed companies), agricultural research institutions, policy organs, advisory services, and development partners. From 2013, the project has led the data consolidation, support to research programs, and development of communication products with the purpose of enhancing agricultural growth in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique. In total, the project has consolidated over 1,000 research datasets, developed over 100 communication products, built capacity of more than 600 agricultural stakeholders, and supported conceptualization and implementation of various crop response/fertilizer recommendation programs.

In 2016, AGRA and IPNI agreed to refocus the project to a fertilizer and nutrient management knowledge stakeholder forum. In the new form of the project, IPNI will work with the fertilizer industry to build the capacity for development and dissemination of site-specific nutrient management recommendations for seven countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. The project is providing support for development of appropriate fertilizer formulations by linking the fertilizer industry to soil and agronomic data. Further, the forum will link fertilizer companies to soil/plant laboratories, train small scale fertilizer blenders and build the capacity of fertilizer company agronomists on 4R Nutrient Stewardship and application of the Nutrient Expert® decision support tool.