For further information contact: Peter Okoth

Last update: 25 July 2005

Position Announcement

Senior Scientist - Food Processing and Nutritionist

TSBF-CIAT is seeking a Senior Scientist - Food Processing and Nutritionist for its office in Nairobi, to manage on a day-to-day basis a project on 'Soybean processing and utilization for improving the health and nutrition of rural households in HIV/AIDS affected areas of Kenya'.

(More information)

TSBF-CIAT's Strategy and Work Plan, 2005-2010

Integrated Soil Fertility Management in the Tropics: From Knowledge to Implementation

This document represents the strategy for the period 2005-2010 of the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of CIAT (TSBF-CIAT).

In recent years, TSBF-CIAT's research for development approach has been based on an Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) paradigm. ISFM is a holistic approach to soil fertility research that embraces the full range of driving factors and consequences of soil degradation-biological, physical, chemical, social, cultural, economic and political.

TSBF-CIAT will pursue the following objectives under the new strategy:

• to improve the livelihoods of people reliant on agriculture by developing sustainable, profitable, socially just and resilient agricultural production systems based on ISFM;
• to develop sustainable land management (SLM) practices in tropical areas while reversing land degradation; and
• to enhance the human and social capital of all TSBF-CIAT stakeholders for research and management on the sustainable use of tropical soils.

See the Executive Summary

Download the Strategy (399 kb)

Now on-line: AfNet's book on Managing Nutrient Cycles

Presenting an essentially African view of how to improve soil productivity on smallholder farms, this book synthesizes results obtained the members of the African Network for Soil Biology and Fertility (AfNet) and their collaborators.

The book's three themes include integrated soil-fertility management, which deals with the integration of green manures into farming systems; effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers, and litter; tilling; and soil organic matter. Below-ground diversity emphasizes soil macrofauna and inoculation with mycorrhizae. Participatory research and scaling-up of soil-fertility restoration technologies covers the social context of soil fertility, rural development, economic analysis, and farmer evaluation of integrated nutrient management.

Download the book

The Comminutor Volume 8 Now On-line

In the past 10 years, TSBF-CIAT has extended its activities to Latin America and most parts of west, east and central Africa with notable impact on farming communities. Farmer-led research on soil fertility management has been key to TSBF-CIAT activities since the mid-1990s. TSBF, through its social scientists, is actively disseminating to farmers best-bet technologies from field trials in various benchmark sites in more than 22 countries in Africa and Latin America.

This issue of The Comminutor highlights some results from some of these sites, mainly through pictures.

Training Course on DSSAT Version 4

23-28 August 2004, Arusha, Tanzania

This course aims to familiarize participants with DSSAT, a comprehensive computer model for the simulation of crop growth and yield, soil and plant water, nutrient and carbon dynamics and their application to real world problems. DSSAT v4 comprises the following modules: CROPGRO, CERES, CERES-Rice, SUBSTOR, CROPSIM-CERES, and CENTURY. It also has tools and utility programs for managing data on soil, climate, genetics, crops, economics, and pests; and has application and analysis programs. The training, organized by AfNet (TSBF, CIAT), Project 5 (CP-Water and Food, ICRISAT), and ICASA, will be led by G. Hoogenboom, University of Georgia, J.W. Jones, University of Florida and Pierre Sibiry Traore of ICRISAT.

Recommendation to international participants: Arrive one or two days early so you can adjust to time-zone differences and recover from travel fatigue. (more information)

Download the announcement (169 kb)

Contact: André Bationo (AfNet Coordinator)

Two new online publications

“Agropastoral Systems for the Tropical Savannas of Latin America”

This document deals with alternative agropastoral systems—zero tilling and minimum cultivation, and integration of crops and pastures—for slowing down the degradation of savanna ecosystems in Latin America. The research, progress, and conclusions of the Red Agropastoril para Sabanas (Savanna Agropastoral Network) are described. The book is directed at researchers, farmers, extension workers, students, and policy makers.

Download the publication (1377 kb)

"Nature’s Plow: Soil Macroinvertebrate Communities in the Neotropical Savannas of Colombia" is now available in Spanish as “El Arado Natural: Las Comunidades de Macroinvertebrados del Suelo en las Sabanas Neotropicales de Colombia”

This compilation of recent knowledge on soil macroinvertebrates in the acid-soil savannas of the Colombian Eastern Plains focuses on the effects a specific functional group of soil invertebrates. Earthworms are the savannas’ “ecosystem engineers”, and significantly affect the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties. Options are presented for conserving and using the biological resources found in soils under different land management practices.

Download the Spanish version

Download the English version

To order copies, see our publications catalog.

'Modeling Nutrient Management in Tropical Cropping Systems' Conference Proceedings Published

In tropical regions, organic materials are often more important than fertilizers in maintaining soil fertility, yet most crop models are unable to take account of the level and quality of organic inputs that farmers use. These proceedings report the achievements of a project supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) that aims to test and improve the capability of the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) to predict the decomposition of various organic inputs, dynamics of nitrogen and phosphorus in soil, and their effect on crop yields. The project was implemented through the CGIAR's SWNM program in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI).

See the proceedings

Contact: Robert Delve

International Soil Fertility Symposium

An international symposium on helping farmers raise soil fertility was held on 17-21 May 2004 at Yaounde, Cameroon. Organized by the African Network for Soil Biology and Fertility (AfNet) of CIAT's Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF), the event had three central objectives: (1) to review the state of the art in integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), (2) to propose strategies for scaling up technologies that enhance soil fertility, and (3) to broaden awareness of new initiatives in natural resource management, with emphasis on the concept of integrated agricultural research for development (IAR4D).

For more information, download the symposium announcement (246 kb)

Contact: André Bationo

A New International Initiative to Tap Below-Ground Biodiversity

CIAT’s Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) Institute, based in Nairobi, Kenya, will coordinate an ambitious new project—"Conservation and Sustainable Management of Below-Ground Biodiversity"—with funding from the Global Environment Facility, or GEF. Through the project a consortium of institutions in seven countries—Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and Uganda—will develop improved methods for conserving and managing the extraordinarily diverse community of soil organisms (including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and invertebrate animals), which represent a huge segment of global biodiversity. This work will lead to improvement in vital environmental services, such as regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, and provide farmers in the tropics with new options for intensifying agriculture while protecting natural resources.

For more information see the news release from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and a short project description.

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