Soils Research Area

The Soils Research Area, which evolved from CIAT's Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) Institute, is a major component of the Center’s global effort to address challenges in agriculture. 

Healthy soils contribute importantly to sustainable intensification of agricultural production, which is critical for achieving food security and reducing poverty, while protecting biodiversity and maintaining vital ecosystem services.  Improved soil management also creates new options for climate change adaptation and mitigation.  

Yet, soil degradation is widespread in the tropics, constituting one of the greatest obstacles to sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems. The problem is particularly severe in certain "hotspot" areas of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and tropical America.

CIAT's concerted effort to address this fundamental challenge has advanced rapidly in recent years, building on the work of TSBF, which began as an independent  program in the early 1980s. By evaluating and publicizing the role of soil biology, TSBF helped raise awareness of its importance in the functioning of natural and managed ecosystems and in maintaining land productivity. From the beginning, this progressive initiative worked at the interface between agriculture and ecology to achieve durable food security, engaging a wide community of researchers across the globe. 

 In 2001, CIAT and TSBF formed a strategic alliance. In the decade since then, this research has completed a major initiative on belowground biodiversity and given rise to diverse options based on the concept of managing tropical soil biology and fertility to increase agricultural productivity.

Some of these options derive from an approach referred to as integrated soil fertility management, which involves combinations of improved crops with good agronomic practices, including modest use of chemical fertilizers and creative management of locally available organic inputs. Other options center on sustainable land management, which involves integrated approaches that take into account the ecological, agronomic, social, and political dimensions of landscape reconstruction.  

Working with numerous partners, CIAT's Soils Research Area addresses the major agricultural development issues of today within newly launched CGIAR Research Programs. These aim to achieve major development impact through open partnerships that integrate research capacities within and beyond the CGIAR.

CIAT is particularly well placed to contribute strategically to the program on water, land, and ecosystems as well as to programs on agricultural systems in the humid tropics and dry areas. The Center can also bolster research on natural resources management in programs dealing with key crops (particularly legumes) and with Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS).