| Last March, as world leaders meeting at Monterrey, Mexico, implored rich countries to
double their development aid, a group of veteran agricultural researchers was building the
case for greater investment in the restoration of tropical soils, especially in Africa.
Only by raising soil fertility, the scientists argued, will the 85 percent of Africa's
poor who live in rural areas be able to achieve food security and increase farm incomes.
To the extent that rural communities succeed in making agriculture more dynamic and
competitive, any new development aid that does come their way should do a lot more good.
In a determined effort to create the conditions for that
success, three international agricultural research organizations
have recently joined forces in establishing an alliance that
will improve rural livelihoods in Africa through sustainable
integrated management of soil fertility. The founding partners
are CIAT, the former Tropical Soils Biology and Fertility
(TSBF)
Programme, and the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry
(ICRAF).
As a first step toward creating the alliance, the TSBF Institute
of CIAT was established under an agreement signed in December
2001 at Center headquarters near Cali, Colombia. The new institute
will be hosted by ICRAF at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
Scientists from the alliance's founding organizations met during early March with
technical advisers from interested donor agencies for a 3-day strategy-development
workshop. The event was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation at its Bellagio Study and
Conference Center in Italy.
 Afterwards, a
working group produced a synthesis of the workshop presentations, entitled "Soil Fertility Degradation in sub-Saharan Africa: Leveraging
Lasting Solutions to a Long-Term Problem" (334 kb)
"As an integral part of our global research program," said CIAT director
general Joachim Voss, "the TSBF Institute will constitute a potent force for
combating soil degradation throughout the tropics." The alliance with ICRAF, he
added, "will take us a step further toward wider partnerships that are part of the
ongoing integration of international and national agricultural research in Africa."
In addition to working with a wide array of R&D institutions to reverse soil
degradation, the TSBF Institute will seek ways to enhance the effectiveness of farmers'
own efforts to protect and improve their soils. It will also integrate the soils work with
research aimed at creating new income-generating opportunities for farming households and
communities. New sources of income, among other benefits, should provide farmers with
additional means and incentives to invest in soil improvement.
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