BCI & FAO Global Soil Partnership promote sustainable soil management

The Soil Doctors programme promotes the establishment of a farmer-to-farmer training system and aims to build the capacity of farmers on the practice of sustainable soil management. By doing so, it seeks to support governmental agencies and organisations working on agricultural extension services and support field research based on interactions between the Soil Doctors representatives and research institutes. It also seeks to promote the concept of soil testing prior to recommendations on soil management, BCI said in a press release.

BCI had implemented a Soil Doctors pilot programme in Mali in April and plans to roll the programme out in Mozambique later this year.

RECSOIL is a ‘Payment for Ecosystem Services’ (PES) scheme, whereby qualifying projects are given financial incentives and awarded credits based on the volumes of carbon sequestered in the soil and on the reduction on GHG emissions. This approach encourages more sustainable farming practices, while also creating an additional source of revenue for farmers.

Farmers adopting good practices that maintain carbon in the soil can benefit from technical support and financial incentives for adopting and implementing these practices through RECSOIL. BCI is currently working with Global Soil Partnership to design a small pilot project in India, which has been delayed due to the COVID-19 situation, but testing will resume in the coming months.

Soil health is one of the seven Better Cotton Principles and Criteria, which lay out the global definition of Better Cotton. Soil is one of the fundamental assets for any farmer. However, poor soil management can lead to poor yields, depletion of soils, wind erosion, surface runoff, land degradation and climate change. Sustainable soil management can create numerous positive outcomes for both the environment and farming communities.

The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) was established in 2012 as a way of developing strong interactive partnerships and collaboration between stakeholders working with soils.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)