Healthy soils are the foundation of a just and resilient future.
Photo: GIZ
Soil health – indispensable to the sustainable transformation of agri-food systems
By Stephanie Katsir and Oliver Hanschke
By 2050, the global community must feed nearly 10 billion people while respecting planetary boundaries. Currently, 733 million people suffer from acute hunger, and around 5 billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. No other sector offers greater potential for achieving the goals of climate protection, biodiversity conservation and food security than agriculture and the food industry.
A unifying theme across the Rio Conventions
Promoting soil health can simultaneously mitigate climate change, combat desertification and conserve biodiversity. Embedding soil health in policy and practice requires a holistic approach that recognises the interconnected nature of these global challenges. In recent years, soil health has increasingly emerged as a unifying theme across the Rio Conventions, playing a pivotal role in providing ecosystem services, ensuring food and nutrition security for all and contributing to climate regulation, climate adaptation and rural resilience. Through sustainable land management, research, community engagement and cross-sectoral collaboration, the power of healthy soil can be harnessed to achieve the Rio Conventions’ goals and advance towards a more sustainable, resilient and liveable future for all.
Governments, multinational organisations and international networks are already actively promoting soil health as a key element in changing paradigms and transforming agrifood systems. Pivotal initiatives that focus on sustainable soil management practices have been launched by the Global Soil Partnership as part of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) and the Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH), which was officially founded in September 2021 at the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) in New York/USA.
Experience gained from ten years of “ProSoil”
With the special initiative "Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems" run by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany is making a significant contribution to promoting soil protection and rehabilitation globally. One of the key elements here is the Global Programme “Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security” (ProSoil), which is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of BMZ, and co-funded by the European Union (EU) and the Gates Foundation.
Since 2015, ProSoil has demonstrated the effectiveness of interventions delivered through advice, financial support and better access to knowledge in improving the situation of rural populations in developing countries, protecting natural resources and promoting climate protection and resilience. In this way, together with partners in the Global South, ProSoil has made significant contributions. Over the past decade, soil degradation has been reversed across more than 1.1 million hectares of land in Africa and India, directly benefiting almost 3 million people, more than 70 per cent of whom are women, whose socio-economic status has improved as a result.
Evaluations of the programme’s impact up to 2024 confirm significant gains. Participating farms have achieved an average productivity increase of 43 per cent (up to 52 per cent), higher incomes and greater resilience to droughts and price shocks. These benefits also extend to diversified cropping and better household nutrition. Furthermore, reducing the CO2 footprint by over 1.74 million tonnes highlights the role of healthy soils as crucial carbon sinks and proves that soil health is a multiplier for rural development amid escalating climate pressures.
Dealing with complexity
There is a broad consensus within the research and development community that confirms the need to transform food production and agriculture through a systemic approach. However, complexity is a challenge, and systems approaches are often difficult when it comes to implementation and actions. The development sector offers a unique opportunity to overcome these barriers: by implementing portfolios of actions across food systems and interrelated systems to create co-benefits and manage trade-offs. The promotion of soil health is one example of this.
Experience during the ten-year implementation period of ProSoil has shown that agroecological packages, carefully tailored to local contexts, consistently outperform isolated measures when bundled together. Such packages, which integrate crop cultivation, livestock farming, agroforestry and resource efficiency, are most effectively adopted when promoted through farmer-to-farmer learning and sustained advisory support. Crucially, the recommended techniques must be easy to master in the first growing season and quickly deliver visible contributions to securing food and income. Farmers are not merely recipients of training; they are also innovators and evaluators of new practices. They decide what to adopt, adapt or reject based on local natural and socio-economic conditions. Therefore, advisory approaches that integrate local knowledge and foster dialogue between practitioners, local extension services, scientists and political decision-makers are important for the long-term sustainable establishment of agroecological methods.
Long-term timeframes and large-scale testing needed
In a globally interconnected world, solutions cannot be found solely at local level. A multi-level approach, comprising coordinated action from local to global levels, has proven effective. International knowledge exchange and cross-country learning can transform the way action is showcased and learning is enhanced. As a result, successful approaches are not only effective locally but are also transferred and scaled up in other countries and contexts. Documenting knowledge on global platforms dedicated to sustainable land management, such as the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), makes these approaches visible and widely accessible across different geographic regions.
Six levers for soil health promotion
Development and international cooperation projects are often designed for short periods. While this can lead to promising innovations, in rural areas it is insufficient for significant economic, ecological and social change. Transformative approaches require a long-term timeframe for thinking and acting, as well as large-scale testing of their feasibility under real conditions. Additionally, implementing technically and economically promising soil protection approaches requires investment and improved framework conditions (see Figure above).
Setting the stage for soil health and food security
At the international conference “Partners for Change – SOILutions for a Food Secure, Resilient, and Sustainable Future” held in Berlin, Germany, in May 2025, over 150 participants from 30 delegations, including representatives from politics, business, civil society, and international donors and organisations, discussed soil health. The conference focused on integrated approaches to improve soil health, such as agroecology and nature-based solutions. In his speech, BMZ State Secretary Niels Annen emphasised the commitment to fighting global hunger, accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, and adhering to the Paris Agreement. Annen called for increased international collaboration and the expansion of regenerative land use to preserve and restore this valuable resource.
Over 150 participants from 30 delegations attended the conference that was opened by BMZ State Secretary Niels Annen (right).
Two publications resulted from discussions at the SOILutions conference: “Soil First: Advancing Food System Transformation from the Ground Up – Lessons Learned and Recommendations from a Decade of Protecting and Rehabilitating Soils in Africa and Asia” offers guidance and recommendations based on reflections on lessons learned, articulating the best practices and scalable solutions that have emerged from local soil protection and rehabilitation efforts, and linking these to global agendas. The paper aims to inspire concrete action among stakeholders, including decision-makers, donors, financial institutions, private sector actors, farmers and civil society organisations. Additionally, a policy brief titled “Healthy Soils, Resilient Systems: Levers for Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems” was developed based on the paper and the conference results. The policy brief was launched during the UNFSS +4 in Ethiopia in July as part of the side event “Leveraging Food Systems for Rio Synergies: The Role of Multistakeholder Approaches”.
More about the conference: Elevating Soil Health for a Sustainable Future - Food4Transformation
Insights from the field – Ethiopia
Agroecology, as a systemic approach, offers a transformative pathway to the challenges for Ethiopia’s agrifood system by integrating ecological, social, economic, and political factors. Building on previous efforts under ProSoil, the action “ProSilience: Enhancing soils and agroecology for resilient agri-food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa”, which was co-funded by the European Union and ran from 2021 to 2024, accelerated this transition through three key pillars: implementing agroecological practices, enhancing policy and research frameworks, and strengthening knowledge exchange at both local and international levels.
One crucial factor driving adoption is the farmers' ability to observe tangible results. Model or “ambassador” farmers demonstrated practices such as vermicomposting, biodigesters, integrated soil fertility management and biomass-saving technologies. These demonstration plots built trust, encouraged peer-to-peer learning and showcased clear benefits often yielding “quick wins”, such as increased harvests within a single season. Data also played a pivotal role in shaping policy. The Ethiopian Soil Health Decision Support Tool offered location-specific fertiliser recommendations based on 50 years of crop response data. This resulted in measurable yield improvements and informed national fertiliser import policies.
Farmers in Ethiopia demonstrate how their yields have increased through the use of vermicompost.
Tangible results are crucial to encouraging farmers to adopt new practices.
Photo: GIZ/Abinet Shiferaw
In order to encourage long-term commitment, agroecology has been incorporated into academic curricula and other learning initiatives, such as the Agroecology Leadership Academy, which has equipped stakeholders from government, civil society and the private sector with vital leadership and transformational skills. Further collaborations with civil society and research institutions have led to the formation of the Ethiopian Sustainable Food Systems and Agroecology Consortium. This has generated evidence that agroecological practices, particularly farmer-to-farmer extension, are effective tools for building resilience in times of crisis.
Insights from the field – Kenya
Soil degradation alone imposes substantial economic costs in Kenya. Losses from degraded land and declining soil fertility have been estimated at approximately 1.2 billion euros per year – equivalent to 1.2 per cent of Kenya’s GDP. Degraded soils result in lower agricultural yields, an increased reliance on external inputs, and diminished resilience, all of which undermine rural incomes and national food security.
In this context, maintaining soil health is not merely optional; it is a crucial foundation for transforming Kenya’s agricultural and food systems towards resilience and sustainability. Over the past decade, ProSoil has delivered tangible impacts in Kenya and celebrated this success on the 5th December 2025 on World Soil Day by hosting a conference titled “Tales of the Soil – Celebrating a Decade of Transformation”.
A woman farmer in Kenya presenting home-grown vegetables. Around 70 per cent of women
following the promoted methods state that they have significantly increased their socio-economic status.
Photo: GIZ
The programme has trained over 200,000 farmers in Western Kenya, equipping them with practical skills to restore and sustain soil fertility. As a result, crop yields have increased by 40 to 50 per cent for staple cops such as maize, beans and African leafy vegetables, directly improving food security and household incomes. By co-creating policies, curricula and technical guides with the Government of Kenya, an enabling environment for a paradigm shift in soil management has been strengthened. These improved framework conditions will support farmers in contributing to national food security and self-reliance in the future without depending on costly external inputs. This success illustrates that soil health solutions are both actionable and scalable, paving the way for transformative change.
Healthy soils – the foundation of a just and resilient future
Building on the successes of programmes such as ProSoil and the lessons learned in international development cooperation, the way forward requires an integrated, inclusive approach, as well as the empowerment of women and youth (see Figure above). A crucial moment for this transformation is approaching in 2026: the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF), announced by FAO, which will highlight the vital role of women in agriculture.
Women are key custodians of seeds, knowledge and agroecological practices, carrying out a substantial share of agricultural work across countries such as India, Kenya, and Madagascar. Yet, as highlighted the new Global Programme “Soil Matters – Innovations for Soil Health and Agroecology”, which was launched in 2025 and builds on ProSoil’s successful approaches, genuine rural resilience remains out of reach as long as women continue to face systemic barriers. Many lack equal access to land, machinery, training and decision-making power – issues exacerbated by restrictive inheritance laws and mobility constraints in contexts the programme is working, including Tunisia and Ethiopia.
Advancing gender equality is therefore essential to scaling up sustainable soil management. This requires targeted interventions at local level, such as adapted mechanisation, training paired with inclusive childcare and investments that directly support women farmers and their networks, including self-help groups in India – alongside political processes that amplify women's voices nationally and globally. By deliberately focusing on soil health while empowering women farmers to lead in protecting and restoring soils, international cooperation can strengthen both sustainable land management and genuine gender equality world-wide.
Stephanie Katsir is Advisor for Knowledge Management, Knowledge Continuity und Learning at the Global Programmes “Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security” (ProSoil) and “Soil Matters – Innovations for Soil Health and Agroecology” at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
Oliver Hanschke is Communications Officer at the Global Programmes “Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security” (ProSoil) and “Soil Matters – Innovations for Soil Health and Agroecology” at GIZ.
Contact: oliver.hanschke(at)giz.de
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