Soil Information Workflow: 8 steps to develop a Soil Information System (SIS)

Soil Information Workflow turns data into insights, helping professionals make smarter, sustainable decisions.

The Soil Information Workflow developed by ISRIC-World Soil Information provides a structured process for collecting, organizing, and delivering soil data. It consists of eight key steps: 1- needs assessment, 2- data collection, 3- laboratory analysis, 4- soil archiving, 5- data organization, 6- modeling and mapping, 7- applying soil information, and 8- serving the data. This workflow helps users, such as policymakers, intergovernmental organizations, farmers, and other stakeholders, to set up efficient soil information systems, enabling better soil management and decision-making for agricultural and environmental applications.

This technology is validated.

9•7

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 9/9; level of use 7/9

Adults 18 and over: Positive medium

By providing accurate soil information in a FAIR manner, users can enhance soil health through improved land management practices that result in better yields, profits, and economic returns.

The poor: Positive medium

SIS provides users with affordable and actionable solutions to enhance productivity, soil health, and income.

Under 18: No impact

Women: Positive medium

By providing accurate soil information in a FAIR manner, female users can enhance land management practices, leading to increased productivity and profitability which results in more between practitioners

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

SIS is adaptable and can respond to changing environmental conditions, including variations in weather.

Farmer climate change readiness: Moderate improvement

SIS enhance better decision-making and agricultural practices in the face of climate change impacts.

Biodiversity: Positive impact on biodiversity

Adopting a SIS can minimise soil contamination and fertiliser overuse, while also protecting nature and biodiversity.

Carbon footprint: Much less carbon released

The carbon footprint of a SIS is low compared to other technologies. SIS helps reduce emissions indirectly by promoting better soil management and informed decision-making.

Environmental health: Greatly improves environmental health

By minimising the use of machines and chemicals, SIS lowers carbon emissions and enhances environmental health.

Soil quality: Improves soil health and fertility

SIS can help maintain long-term soil fertility and productivity.

Problem

Africa's soils are deteriorating: Due to factors like organic matter loss, declining fertility, nutrient imbalance, pollution, soil biodiversity loss, increasing acidity, and erosion.
Key drivers: include overgrazing, deforestation, and unsustainable farming practices, leading to soil degradation that threatens biodiversity, ecosystems, and productivity.
Desertification: 65% of Africa’s productive land is degraded due to desertification, which affects 45% of the continent, with another 55% of land at high risk of further degradation.
Climate Change: Climate change exacerbates soil degradation, further threatening agricultural productivity and increasing vulnerability to environmental impacts.
Deforestation: Africa loses 3 million hectares of forest annually, contributing to a 3% GDP loss from soil and nutrient depletion.
Soil infertility: Diminishes agricultural productivity, causing over $43 billion in annual food imports
Lack of integrated soil information systems: Despite efforts to collect soil data and monitor land degradation, there is not many integrated systems for sharing this information, hindering effective policymaking, investment planning, and research.

Solution

Building a Soil Information System (SIS): Develop an integrated system to store, analyse, manage, and disseminate soil data to improve soil health and monitor deterioration.
Data Access: Provide users with access to diverse soil-related data, including soil properties, classifications, maps, and environmental data.
Multiple Datasets and Tools: Include various datasets, models, and tools to support better decision-making for end-users.
Customizable Design: Tailor the SIS design to country-specific needs, user requirements, data availability, and technical expertise.
SIS Profile Development: Create a SIS profile that aligns with use cases and includes a viable business model for long-term sustainability.
Step-by-Step Design Process: Follow a structured workflow for designing and building the system to ensure effective implementation and functionality.

Key points to design your program

The 8 Steps to Develop a Soil Information System (SIS) provide a structured approach to collecting, analyzing, managing, and disseminating soil data for informed agricultural and land management decisions. The technology can be integrated into soil health, climate resilience, land restoration, agricultural planning, and environmental management programs. Its adoption contributes to SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

To integrate this technology into your project, plan and budget for the following activities and prerequisites:

Assess soil information needs, land degradation challenges, user requirements, and policy priorities to define the objectives of the Soil Information System.
Facilitate access to soil data collection tools, laboratory facilities, geospatial technologies, digital platforms, and data management systems.
Support training for government agencies, research institutions, extension services, universities, and technical specialists on soil data collection, laboratory analysis, mapping, modelling, and data management.
Invest in field surveys, soil sampling campaigns, laboratory analysis, soil archives, data infrastructure, and digital platforms to support the development of the SIS.
Promote the integration of soil information into agricultural planning, land restoration, climate adaptation, investment decisions, and natural resource management.
Support the participation of national institutions, young professionals, and technical organizations in soil information generation, management, and dissemination activities.
Establish partnerships with ISRIC, IITA, CABI, FAO, government agencies, research institutions, universities, and development partners to support implementation and sustainability.
Track key indicators such as soil datasets generated, areas mapped, users accessing soil information, institutions adopting the SIS, soil management decisions informed by the system, and investments supported through soil information services

IP

Open source / open access

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology\’s development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology\’s readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 9 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: validated

Level of use 9 out of 9

Common use by projects NOT connected to technology provider

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Ethiopia	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Ghana	–No ongoing testing	Tested	–Not adopted
Kenya	–No ongoing testing	Tested	–Not adopted
Zambia	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid
Semiarid
Subhumid
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 2: zero hunger

Developing SIS will enable policymakers, intergovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders to enhance soil management policies, priorities interventions, improve advisory services, and support broader goals related to food security and production.

Goal 13: climate action

Developing SIS will enhance policymaking, agricultural practices, and land management. By integrating these efforts, we can mitigate the effects of climate change.

Goal 15: life on land

SIS can help to prevent soil deterioration by providing accurate information on soil, which helps in the efficient allocation of resources and the implementation of appropriate interventions.

Depending on the needs, ISRIC can help with each step of the soil information workflow. See examples below:

Needs Assessment: Collaborate with ISRIC and CABI to develop a Soil Information System (SIS) roadmap by attending a workshop, guided by the SIS Framework developed with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The framework is available here.
Data Collection: After defining the use case(s) and objectives of the SIS, engage all stakeholders, including data providers, users, and funders. This stage includes designing and executing a field campaign to collect soil data. Examples from ISRIC’s partnership with IITA can be found here.
Laboratory Analysis: Once soil data is collected, the next phase involves laboratory analysis of the soil samples, with ISRIC collaborating with FAO for this work. More information is available here.
Soil Archiving: Organize and store the physical soil samples, specimens, and related documents in a structured archive, which supports the SIS with essential information. ISRIC’s efforts in soil archiving are showcased here.
Data Organization: Organize and integrate field, laboratory, and metadata into a central system for efficient management. For guidance on data organization, see an example here.
Modelling and Mapping: Once data is collected, analysed, and organized, the next step is modelling and mapping soil properties and types. See ISRIC’s tutorials for more details on data preparation and modelling here and here.
Applying Soil Information: Apply the soil data and models to various scales, from field-level to global. See examples of soil information application here and here.
Data and Information Serving: The final step is making the soil data accessible to users online. This can be done through platforms like WoSIS here.

For a comprehensive view of the soil information workflow, refer to ISRIC’s workflow page. Additionally, the ISRIC soil community of practice offers a collaborative space for sharing knowledge and learning at every stage of the process, available here.