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FERTILE SOIL THROUGH THE RIGHT COMBINATION OF METHODS
Every year, six million hectares of soil are destroyed worldwide. A GIZ project in the Ethiopian highlands demonstrates how the testing of a new model can be transformed into national policy for maintaining soil fertility.
Project sponsor
GIZ
Goals
Support the partner countries to effectively implement proven methods to protect the soil and rehabilitate degraded soil.
Improve political conditions and provide incentives for sustainable land use.
Systematically provide and exchange learning experiences from the partner countries.
Budget
EUR 72.1 million
In the Ethiopian highlands, intensive farming has been practiced for decades, without returning nutrients to the soil. The government has launched programs to counteract soil erosion in the highlands. But the government's strategies are based entirely on mineral fertilizers, a method that is not adapted to local conditions. Organic matter and nutrients are extracted from the soil with each harvest. As a result, the soil is exhausted and stale. Proven technologies for maintaining and improving soil fertility already exist. But small farmers often lack the knowledge and the money to apply such cultivation methods in their farms.
The global project "Soil protection and soil rehabilitation for food security" promotes sustainable land use in five partner countries (Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso, India and Kenya). The target group is small farmers. They learn, for example, how to ensure the lasting fertility of their soil through the use of lime, a balanced use of organic and mineral fertilizer, better seed and proper methods of tilling the soil. This combination of methods is known as "integrated soil fertility management" and is being implemented in many partner countries, including the Ethiopian highlands.
See the difference with your own eyes
Today, manure and lime are used as well, rather than just mineral fertilizer. "I am very proud that I was the first to try these methods!", says Haile Abadid as he makes his way to his field in Ethiopia. He is one of nine farmers who a year ago were designated as model farmers for the project. Under the guidance of advisors from the regional agricultural authority, he divided his field into equal parts. One part was tilled in the traditional manner, while the other was cultivated in line with integrated soil fertility management, with new seed, cultivation in rows and a balancing of organic fertilizer, i.e. manure, with a mineral-enriched fertilizer. Now Mr. Abadid stands between two the two parts of the field, and points with his cane to the area on his right, where he used the new methods. "The difference is impressive. The wheat here is growing much higher!" At the end of the season, he will present his results to the other farmers: "They're already asking about it." The farmers think and act according to the motto "I'll believe it when I see it." In Mr. Abadid’s field, they can already observe which methods produced a higher yield. Higher wheat stalks mean more biomass, and hence more organic material that can be introduced into the depleted soil.
"The difference is impressive. The wheat here is growing much higher!"
The project cultivated almost 5,000 demonstration plots in Ethiopia in 2016 using the integrated soil fertility management method, comprising more than one thousand hectares in all. More than 9,000 people took part in training sessions. Initial results show that substantially higher yields are achieved on fields where these techniques are applied. For example, the chickpea yield was over 90 per cent higher than in the control fields.
The project has national implications. Together with partners from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and researchers, experiences are being analyzed and recommendations formulated for optimized fertilization. The findings will be taken into account by policymakers for nationwide planning in the coming years.
