Hands that heal our soils

Soils are where our food begins. Without healthy soils, growing nutritious food would be next to impossible. Problems like soil erosion can cause up to 50 percent in crop yield losses, impacting farmers’ livelihoods, our environment, agriculture and food. Soil health affects us all. 

Around the world, farmers face different challenges. Misuse of fertilizers and pesticides and lack of knowledge about soil conditions are among them.

To address these issues at their roots, the Global Soil Doctors Programme, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is creating a legion of “soil doctors”, educated and trained to support farmers on sustainable soil management. This programme, a key initiative of the Global Soil Partnership, provides heaps of educational resources to support the doctors and farmers to teach and learn from each other.

Here are four countries where FAO-trained soil doctors are healing farms and bettering soil management practices: