A LANDMARK map detailing soil fertility across the whole of Africa will be a game-changer for the world's poorest farmers.

For every single field on the continent, vital information such as the acidity, organic content, and nutrient levels of the soil is now available which will help advise farmers in a number of different areas, such as yield forecasting, crop suitability and fertilizer application.

Africa will now have access to more detailed soil information than many European countries, including the UK.

It is hoped that this will be an important step towards tackling major human health challenges caused by food grown in poor quality soil, including the estimated 1.1 million child deaths caused each year by malnutrition.

It also marks the first time an entire continent’s soil has been studied to this level of detail and raises real hopes for much improved harvests - and subsequently, the health, livelihoods and food security of more than a billion people.

It was produced by iSDA, a social enterprise founded by three research institutes – Rothamsted Research, World Agroforestry and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

CEO of iSDA, Dr Jonathan Crouch, said: “For the first time, farm level soil data is now available for the entire African continent.

“With ever growing demand for food, it is critical that we find ways to increase productivity in sustainable ways that also allow millions of smallholders to improve their livelihoods," he explained.

“If we know the current status of essential soil nutrients , we can maximize productivity, profitability and environmental benefits.”

From the Tunisian coast, all the way to the Cape - some 5,000 miles away – the iSDA soil map charts the continents 3.4 million square miles of potential agricultural land in unrivalled detail at roughly 24 billion locations.

Due to their extreme old age, unforgiving climates, and decades of unsustainable management, large areas of Africa are heavily depleted of nutrients, strongly acidic or low in organic carbon. Poor soil fertility has long been recognised as a major contributor to Africa’s high incidences of child mortality, stunting, and wasting.

The new map charts soil fertility every 30m and will help to target nutrients where they are most needed. Many African farmer’s fields are far smaller in size than those in Europe and the 30m resolution of iSDAsoil finally lays the foundation for individually tailored, field level advice for smallholders – a significant improvement on the 250m resolution available previously.

Soil scientist and Rothamsted’s Professor Steve McGrath, added: “In the UK we only have national coverage at a scale of 1000m. Even though we have had this data for many years, it has never really been used, and because we know now that there is so much variation in soil properties within individual fields, it means this resolution of soil data is virtually useless for farm-level decisions.”

In addition to improving health and livelihoods, iSDAsoil will also be of use in the battle against climate change by, for example, optimizing soil carbon capture and increasing soil quality and resilience.

Lead Data Scientist at iSDA, Dr Matt Miller, concluded: “Soils are fundamental to life on earth, but knowledge about African soil has been incomplete and out-dated. In order to continue to feed the fast-growing population sustainably, there is an urgent need to generate accurate, up-to-date soil health information to support agricultural development, environmental sustainability and fight climate change.”