The soil is the foundation we've been ignoring
Beneath every harvest lies a foundation that farming cultures have long taken for granted: the soil itself. In Kakamega county, western Kenya, the FAO's Soil Doctors Programme is gathering farmers and extension officers to confront a quiet crisis — one-third of the world's soils are degraded, and Kenya's fields are losing fertility faster than they can recover. The initiative trains people not merely in technique, but in a deeper literacy: to read the land, understand what it needs, and become teachers for those who come after them.
- Decades of burning crop residue, monocropping, and applying fertiliser without soil knowledge have steadily hollowed out the agricultural foundation across western Kenya.
- Erratic rainfall compounds declining soil fertility, squeezing crop yields year after year and pushing food security toward a tipping point that individual farmers cannot reverse alone.
- Thirty extension officers and fifteen lead farmers gathered at Bukura Agricultural Training College for hands-on instruction in soil diagnostics, pH measurement, and science-based conservation techniques.
- The programme's train-the-trainer architecture means each participant becomes a multiplier — carrying knowledge outward into their communities rather than waiting for guidance to trickle down from above.
- Field data collected through the programme will feed into Kenya's national agricultural information system, shifting fertiliser recommendations from generic to evidence-based and locally tailored.
Esther Nelima had burned her maize stalks after every harvest for years — a quick way to clear the land. It was only through the FAO's Soil Doctors Programme that she understood what those flames were consuming: the organic matter that keeps soil alive. "I have learned how to take care of soil," she said, standing in her fields in Shivanga, Kakamega county.
The programme arrives at a moment of compounding pressure. Globally, roughly one-third of soils have degraded through erosion, nutrient depletion, and extractive farming. In Kenya, declining fertility and increasingly erratic rainfall are squeezing crop yields year after year, making the soil itself the urgent frontier of food security. As national project coordinator Barrack Okoba put it: "For a long time, there has been a lot of emphasis on plant health while overlooking the very foundation for such health, which is the soil."
At Bukura Agricultural Training College, 30 extension officers and 15 lead farmers received intensive, practical instruction — learning to read soil structure, identify soil types, measure pH, and diagnose what their land actually needs. Fellow Kakamega farmer Kuki Burundi, who had practiced monocropping and left fields bare after harvest for years, came to understand how those habits gradually weaken fertility and accelerate erosion. Both he and Nelima committed to applying what they learned and teaching their neighbours.
This is the programme's deliberate architecture: train lead farmers and extension officers so they become multipliers, carrying knowledge outward rather than waiting for top-down instruction to reach every smallholder. The training discourages burning residue, bare fields, and blind fertiliser application, replacing them with soil conservation techniques that build organic matter and strengthen resilience to climate shocks. FAO soil fertility specialist Vinisa Saynes Santillan connected the stakes plainly: "With the current challenges of climate change, we must understand the soil requirements to build the resilience of crop farmers."
Beyond individual plots, data gathered through the initiative will flow into Kenya's Integrated Agricultural Management Information System, enabling evidence-based planning and tailored fertiliser guidance. The effort is part of SoilFER — a flagship FAO programme supported by the United States and Japanese governments and operating across Africa and Central America. The 45 people trained at Bukura are expected to reach hundreds more, turning a local training into a shift in farming culture — one in which soil is understood not as an inert medium, but as a living system that rewards knowledge and care.
Esther Nelima stood in her fields in Shivanga, Kakamega county, and made a decision that would reshape how she farms. For years, she had burned her maize stalks after harvest—a quick way to clear the land, she thought. Only recently did she learn that those flames were destroying something far more valuable than the time saved: the organic matter that keeps soil alive and fertile. "I am learning a lot from this training," she said. "I have learned how to take care of soil."
Nelima is one of dozens of farmers and agricultural extension officers now moving through the Food and Agriculture Organisation's Soil Doctors Programme, a training initiative rolling across western Kenya to address a problem that has quietly eroded the region's agricultural foundation. Globally, roughly one-third of the world's soils have degraded—worn down by erosion, nutrient depletion, pollution, and farming methods that extract without replenishing. In Kenya, the damage compounds. Declining soil fertility combines with increasingly erratic rainfall to squeeze crop yields year after year, making the soil itself the urgent frontier of food security.
The programme brought together 30 extension officers and 15 lead farmers at Bukura Agricultural Training College for intensive, hands-on instruction. The model is deliberately practical. Participants learn to read soil structure, identify soil types, measure pH, and use simple, locally available tools to diagnose what their land actually needs—rather than applying fertiliser blindly or following practices inherited from previous generations. Barrack Okoba, the national project coordinator for the SoilFER Project in Kenya, framed it plainly: "For a long time, there has been a lot of emphasis on plant health while overlooking the very foundation for such health, which is the soil."
Kuki Burundi, another farmer in Kakamega county, had practiced monocropping for years and often left his fields bare after harvest. Through the programme, he discovered that these habits gradually weaken soil fertility, accelerate erosion, and reduce productivity over time. Both he and Nelima committed to applying what they learned on their own farms and teaching their neighbours. This is the architecture of the programme: train extension officers and lead farmers so they become multipliers, carrying knowledge outward into their communities rather than waiting for top-down instruction to reach every farmer.
The training explicitly targets harmful practices. Burning crop residues, leaving fields bare, applying fertiliser without understanding soil nutrient composition—these are discouraged in favour of soil conservation techniques that build organic matter, restore fertility, and strengthen resilience to climate shocks. Vinisa Saynes Santillan, an FAO soil fertility specialist, connected the dots: "With the current challenges of climate change, we must understand the soil requirements to build the resilience of crop farmers."
Beyond individual farm plots, the programme feeds into Kenya's national agricultural information infrastructure. Data collected through training and field work will flow into the Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management Information System, creating a foundation for evidence-based planning and tailored fertiliser recommendations rather than one-size-fits-all guidance. The initiative is part of SoilFER—Soil Mapping for Resilient Agrifood Systems—a flagship FAO programme supported by the United States and Japanese governments, operating across Central America and Africa.
Okoba emphasized the scale potential: "The programme will equip farmers with practical knowledge and skills to improve soil health, increase crop productivity and strengthen food and nutrition security." The train-the-trainer model means the 45 people trained at Bukura become conduits for reaching hundreds more. What began as a recognition that soil degradation threatens livelihoods has become a systematic effort to shift farming culture—to make farmers and extension officers into diagnosticians of their own land, equipped to see soil not as an inert medium but as a living system requiring knowledge, care, and respect.
Citações Notáveis
For a long time, there has been a lot of emphasis on plant health while overlooking the very foundation for such health, which is the soil.— Barrack Okoba, national project coordinator for the SoilFER Project in Kenya
With the current challenges of climate change, we must understand the soil requirements to build the resilience of crop farmers.— Vinisa Saynes Santillan, FAO soil fertility specialist
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does soil health matter so much right now in Kenya specifically?
Because farmers are caught between two pressures at once. The soil itself is getting weaker—decades of the same practices, no rest, no replenishment—and at the same time the climate is becoming less predictable. A weak soil can't hold water when rains come late, and it can't feed a crop when the season is short. You need both things working together.
So the training isn't just about technique. It's about changing what farmers believe about their land.
Exactly. Nelima burned her maize stalks because that's what you do—it's fast, it's visible, it's done. No one told her those stalks were feeding the soil. Once she understood that, the practice stopped making sense. That shift in understanding is what the programme is really after.
The train-the-trainer model—does that actually work, or does knowledge get lost in translation?
It works if the trainers themselves have done the work with their hands. That's why they brought extension officers and lead farmers together, not just bureaucrats. These are people who farm or advise farmers daily. They can show others what they've seen, not just repeat what they heard in a classroom.
What happens to all the data being collected?
It goes into the national agricultural system, so eventually a farmer in Kakamega gets fertiliser advice based on what their soil actually needs, not a blanket recommendation for the whole region. That's the long game—making the system smarter over time.
And if this works here, what's the ripple?
The programme is already in Central America and Africa. If Kenya's farmers start producing more on the same land, using less external input, that becomes a model other countries watch. Food security stops being something you chase with more fertiliser and starts being something you build from the ground up.