Appendix C: Digital Soil and Terrain (SOTER) Database at 1:1 Million Scale for East Africa

Introduction

This material has been compiled through a cooperation between the Soil Resources Management and Conservation Service (AGLS) of FAO, the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC), and national institutes in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Eritrea. Together, these countries cover about a fifth of the African continent. The map consists of 12 sheets of 90 cm by 130 cm.

Map of dominant soils in Uganda

The basic purpose was:

  1. to update the soil and terrain information in this area of the globe
  2. to provide an estimate of the acreage, at regional level, that may have potential for irrigation development

Methodology

The product had to be entered, in digital form, into FAO's Geographical Information System which was under development for internal use at its Headquarters. For ISRIC, it was a first experiment in creating a digital soil and terrain database at 1:1 million scale. Use of a wide variety of sources of information - from recent, highly reliable maps to satellite image interpretations - resulted in considerable differences in the reliability of data. For each mapping unit of the soil map, a suitability classification for irrigated upland crops and for paddy rice was estimated. For estimation, a methodology was developed that uses site and soil properties available in the mapping unit descriptions.

The map below shows an extract of complete mapping units.

Explanation of the legend above:

Beyond the soil classification, the SEA dataset includes at least 132 items - for example:

For further information please contact Mr. Freddy.Nachtergaele@fao.org or Download further documentation (in MS-Word 6.0, zipped, 241 KB)

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