In Africa, where nearly 60% of the population relies on farming, agriculture is more than a livelihood: it’s the foundation of life itself. Yet, despite its centrality to the continent’s economy and well-being, a hidden challenge is quietly undermining progress—one that rarely makes headlines: the absence of reliable soil data.
This gap in knowledge, if seen as a technical oversight, is also a critical obstacle to unlocking Africa’s agricultural potential, ensuring food security, and combating climate change.In this installment of our Mapping the Unseen series, we dive into the underreported yet crucial issue of Africa’s soil data shortage, exploring its wide-ranging impacts and why solving it is essential to the continent’s future.
At first glance, the idea that soil data could hold back an entire continent’s agricultural potential may seem improbable. But beneath the surface, this lack of information has pervasive consequences. Soil data provides essential insight into nutrient levels, soil health, and crop suitability. Without it, African farmers—especially the millions of smallholders—are left to operate in the dark, guessing at the right fertilizers or soil treatments. This guesswork leads to inefficient practices that reduce yields, waste resources, and, in the worst cases, cause long-term environmental damage.
Additionally, many soils are contaminated by pollutants from small-scale mining and industries, which are often difficult to detect. If left unaddressed, farmers may only realize months later that their crops are unsafe for consumption.
Despite the importance of this information, soil data in Africa is often outdated, inaccessible, or non-existent. For many smallholder farmers, the costs of private soil assessments are prohibitive, leaving them without the means to make informed decisions. According to the World Bank, without this data, agricultural planning becomes a process of guesswork—placing food security and sustainable development on shaky ground.
The absence of detailed, up-to-date soil data has a ripple effect across Africa’s agricultural landscape. Here are some of the critical ways it affects productivity and food security:
1. Inefficient Fertilizer Use
Without accurate soil data, fertilizers are often applied either too little or too much, leading to poor yields and even long-term damage to the soil. According to a study by AfricaFertilizer.org, sub-Saharan African countries consistently suffer from fertilizer misapplication due to a lack of information about soil nutrient needs.
2. Decreased Yields and Soil Degradation
When farmers apply the wrong inputs, it harms crop production and accelerates soil degradation, leading to erosion, loss of fertility, and even the need to cultivate new lands—further degrading the environment.
3. Impaired Food Security Planning
Governments and policymakers struggle to make informed decisions about food production and security. Without reliable soil data, they cannot accurately forecast agricultural outputs, making it harder to prepare for and respond to crises like droughts or pest outbreaks. The FAO has for instance highlighted that improved soil data could dramatically improve food security strategies across the continent.
This unseen crisis primarily affects smallholder farmers, the backbone of Africa’s agricultural workforce. Lacking the resources to conduct soil assessments, these farmers are forced to rely on outdated practices or guesswork, making them especially vulnerable to crop failures and economic losses.
Governments also struggle under the weight of insufficient data. Agricultural censuses are infrequent and incomplete, making it difficult to track soil health or anticipate national food production needs. Policymakers are left with too few insights to drive meaningful change, which impedes progress toward goals like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2: ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture.
The private sector, too, is wary. Investors hesitate to inject capital into agriculture without solid data on soil quality and potential yields, limiting the resources available to expand farming capacity and boost food production. With access to reliable data, private funds can be unlocked to boost the local economy, enabling capital to flow and absorb skilled labor that is often unemployed, thereby creating sustainable benefits.
The unseen impact of this data drought extends beyond agriculture, contributing to environmental degradation. Poor farming practices, exacerbated by the lack of soil information, lead to overuse of fertilizers and chemical inputs that degrade soil fertility. As productive land shrinks, farmers push into previously uncultivated areas, contributing to deforestation and the loss of biodiversity. Moreover, unsustainable farming practices drain water resources, worsening the effects of climate change on already vulnerable ecosystems.
Thus, the lack of data on soil pollutants significantly hampers the efforts of NGOs and activists working toward environmental protection and agricultural sustainability. Without reliable and comprehensive data, these organizations struggle to identify and quantify the extent of pollution, making it challenging to advocate for necessary policy changes or interventions. This data gap limits their ability to raise public awareness about the health risks associated with contaminated soils, as well as to mobilize communities to take action against pollution sources.
Furthermore, the absence of detailed information on pollutants can undermine the credibility of their claims, making it difficult to gain support from stakeholders and funding organizations. Consequently, NGOs and activists may find themselves reacting to problems rather than proactively addressing the root causes of soil pollution, stalling progress toward sustainable agricultural practices and broader environmental goals.
To address this invisible yet critical challenge, the solution is clear: Africa must prioritize the collection and dissemination of soil data. There are promising initiatives on the horizon, but they need greater attention, funding, and scale.
Digital Soil Mapping Initiatives
Several projects are working to map Africa’s soils, using technologies such as remote sensing, GIS, and machine learning. Initiatives like the African Soil Information Service (AfSIS) and the Africa Soil Health Consortium are leading the way in collecting and analyzing data, but they remain underfunded and need support to expand their reach.New technologies offer cost-effective ways to gather soil data. Satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, and mobile soil testing kits provide real-time insights into soil health, fertility, and pH levels. These innovations make it easier for farmers to tailor their practices, boosting yields and reducing resource waste.
Private Sector and Philanthropy Involvement
The private sector and philanthropic organizations also have a role to play. By investing in soil data initiatives, they can help unlock Africa’s agricultural potential, drive food security, and promote climate resilience. At d-Node, we are trying to make sure private and public actors can collaborate together to make this great idea a reality, benefitting whole ecosystems.
Africa’s population is projected to double by 2050, heightening the urgency to boost agricultural productivity and ensure food security. This cannot happen without a deeper understanding of the continent’s soils. With climate change already making farming more unpredictable, better soil data will equip farmers to adapt, ensuring resilience in the face of droughts, floods, and other environmental shocks.
The unseen crisis of Africa’s soil data shortage is a barrier to agricultural success, but it’s a challenge that can be overcome. With coordinated efforts from governments, private investors, and international organizations, soil data can unlock Africa’s vast agricultural potential, ensuring food security for generations to come.In future installments of Mapping the Unseen, we will continue to explore the hidden factors shaping Africa’s development and resilience, offering a closer look at the challenges and solutions that often go unnoticed but are essential to the continent’s future.
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