Toolkit for Supporting National Implementation of the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (2024–2034) & the Soil Initiative for Africa (SIA)
Date
2025-09
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
FARA
Abstract
The Toolkit for Supporting National Implementation of the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (2024–2034) & the Soil Initiative for Africa (SIA) provides practical guidance for translating Africa's continental commitments on soil health, soil fertility and fertilizer management into coordinated action at continental, regional, national, local and farm levels. The Toolkit complements the Nairobi Declaration, the ten-year Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (AFSH-AP), and the Soil Initiative for Africa (SIA) Framework, providing implementers and partners with a practical roadmap for domestication and implementation.
The Toolkit contains six principal tools covering stakeholder mapping; country engagement and domestication processes; summaries of the AFSH-AP and SIA Companion Document; coordination mechanisms; monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL); and financing mechanisms.
It addresses key systemic constraints to soil health in Africa, including soil degradation, inadequate soil information, limited human capital in soil science, weak extension capacity, low and imbalanced fertilizer use, insufficient financing, and fragmented implementation. It proposes multi-level institutional arrangements, digital data systems, capacity development, knowledge management, farmer-centred extension, sustainable financing and coordinated monitoring to support achievement of the AFSH-AP and SIA objectives.
Description
The Toolkit is designed as an implementation-oriented resource for actors responsible for domesticating and delivering the Soil Initiative for Africa Framework and the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (2024–2034).
The document explains that the SIA and AFSH-AP were adopted following the African Union's 2024 Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit in Nairobi. Together with the Nairobi Declaration, these instruments establish Africa's long- and medium-term roadmap for improving soil health and fertilizer use.
The Toolkit is structured into six tools:
AFSH and SIA Stakeholder Mapping;
Country Engagement Process for the Domestication of the AFSH-AP & SIA;
AFSH-AP & SIA Companion Document Chapter Summaries;
AFSH-AP & SIA Coordination Mechanism Summary;
AFSH-AP & SIA MEAL Framework Summary; and
AFSH-AP & SIA Financing Mechanisms Summary.
A central focus is enabling countries to integrate SIA and AFSH-AP priorities into national agricultural planning and CAADP processes. The Toolkit proposes a coordinated country-engagement process through which countries can develop or strengthen national soil-health action plans and align investment and reporting systems with continental objectives.
The Toolkit also addresses the development of functional Soil Information Systems (SIS). It highlights the need to rescue and digitize legacy soil data, establish national systems, promote regional harmonization and strengthen continental data-sharing arrangements.
Another major component concerns scaling soil-health interventions. The Toolkit advocates a combination of scaling out, scaling up and deep scaling, alongside farmer-centred innovation, capacity development, knowledge management, value-chain approaches and partnerships.
The MEAL component establishes a framework for tracking implementation against AFSH-AP targets, including restoration of degraded soils, increased cereal yields, increased fertilizer use, soil-specific fertilizer advice, aligned national policies and strengthened laboratory infrastructure. It also envisages integration with the CAADP Biennial Review and the African Union Soil Observatory (AUSO), hosted by FARA.
The financing component proposes mechanisms for mobilizing public, donor and private-sector resources to support soil-health interventions, fertilizer value chains and climate-smart agriculture.
Keywords
Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan, AFSH-AP, Soil Initiative for Africa, SIA, Soil Health, Soil Fertility, Fertilizer Use, Sustainable Land Management, Soil Information Systems, NSIS, Digital Soil Mapping, Agricultural Extension, Soil Science, Climate-Smart Agriculture, Knowledge Management, MEAL, Agricultural Financing, CAADP, AUDA-NEPAD, FARA, Africa
Citation
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa. (2025, September). Toolkit for supporting national implementation of the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (2024–2034) & the Soil Initiative for Africa (SIA). FARA.