The Six Programmatic Thrusts of TSBF-CIAT
 TSBF-CIAT
organized its work into six programmatic thrusts, which are
related to TSBF-CIAT's objectives (see
enlarged figure).
These six programmatic thrusts contribute to the three CIAT's
key Development Challenges (DCs).
- Intensification and diversification
of cropping systems
- Managing the genetic resources
of soil
- Moving from plot to landscape
scale
- Understanding farm-level
social, cultural and gender dynamics
- Linking farmers to markets
- Collaboration and strengthening NARS
capacity
Integrated Soil
Fertility Management in the Tropics: From Knowledge to Implementation
TSBF-CIAT's Strategy and Work Plan, 2005-2010
 This
document represents the strategy for the period 2005-2010
of the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of CIAT
(TSBF-CIAT).
In recent years, TSBF-CIAT's research for development approach
has been based on an Integrated Soil Fertility Management
(ISFM) paradigm. ISFM is a holistic approach to soil fertility
research that embraces the full range of driving factors and
consequences of soil degradation—biological, physical,
chemical, social, cultural, economic and political.
TSBF-CIAT will pursue the following objectives under the
new strategy:
- to improve the livelihoods of people reliant on agriculture
by developing sustainable, profitable, socially just and
resilient agricultural production systems based on ISFM;
- to develop sustainable land management (SLM) practices
in tropical areas while reversing land degradation; and
- to enhance the human and social capital of all TSBF-CIAT
stakeholders for research and management on the sustainable
use of tropical soils.
See the Executive Summary
Download the
Strategy (399 kb)
"Smart" Fertilizers and Nitrogen-efficient
Crops
 Researchers
at CIAT and the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural
Sciences (JIRCAS)
are moving full steam ahead to exploit a rare biochemical
phenomenon from some tropical pasture grasses—biological
nitrification inhibition (BNI). Triggered by chemical compounds
released from the roots of an African grass widely grown in
South America, this natural process, once harnessed, is expected
to make nitrogen fertilizer use far more efficient.
See the complete
text in the latest issue of our corporate annual report,
CIAT in Focus 2004-2005: Getting a Handle on High-Value
Agriculture
Contact: Marco
Rondón
Integrating
Folk and Formal Soil Ecology
 For
Kenya's small farmers, soil fertility management is not just
a matter of maintaining a chemical balance in the topsoil
but rather brings into play their knowledge of soil ecology.
With support from Canada's International Development Research
Centre (IDRC),
researchers in CIAT's Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility
(TSBF) Institute are testing an interactive learning strategy
with four communities in western Kenya to promote dialog between
farmers' "folk" ecology and formal scientific knowledge.
This approach contrasts with conventional agronomic research
methods, which often ignore local knowledge systems. While
not a panacea, farmers' knowledge about factors such as soil
types, nutrient content, composting, and crop response to
organic and inorganic amendments is vital, since it guides
their decisions about farming.
See the complete
text in the latest issue of our corporate annual report,
CIAT in Focus 2004-2005: Getting a Handle on High-Value
Agriculture
Contact: Joshua
Ramisch
Building
an Arable Layer of Soil in the Savannas
 Brazil,
Colombia, Venezuela, and other countries endowed with vast
tropical savannas have great expectations for these resources.
They see them as a last frontier of arable land, a means of
expanding crop production and generating regional economic
wealth within their borders. But, as the research experience
of CIAT and other scientists has demonstrated, this will be
nothing but a pipe dream unless the currently infertile, degraded
soils of the savannas can first be built up-almost from scratch.
Savanna soils are often acidic, high in aluminum (which is
toxic to plants), and low in organic matter. Without dramatic
improvements in the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics
of these Oxisols and Ultisols, it won't be possible to introduce
sustainable, no-till crop agriculture.
See the complete
text in the latest issue of our corporate annual report,
CIAT in Focus 2004-2005: Getting a Handle on High-Value
Agriculture
Contact: Edgar
Amézquita
Workshop on Adapting Crops and
Forages to Acid Soils
 The
workshop on "Advances in improving acid soil adaptation
of tropical crops and forages, and management of acid soils"
was jointly organized by EMBRAPA,
CIAT, and IRD.
Funded by the Brazilian
Government, the workshop was held in Brasília,
October 2005. The 30 participants reviewed advances made in
(1) adapting major food and feed crops to acid soils, and
(2) managing acid soils. The main topics discussed included
identifying, screening, and breeding for aluminum resistance
in crop and forage germplasm; the physiological and molecular
mechanisms involved in aluminum resistance and low phosphorus
tolerance; how native Cerrado plants adapt to acid
soils; and soil management and agropastoral production for
no-tillage systems in acid-soil regions. The participants
noted the dramatic adoption of Brachiaria brizantha
cv. Marandu, which is spittlebug resistant. Opportunity was
taken to strengthen and plan collaborative activities, and
identify future research needs.
Download the workshop program
(717 kb) and the abstracts
(942 kb)
An Advanced Training Workshop on
DSSAT Version 4
This event, to be held in October 2005, follows up the Arusha
2004 workshop on the DSSAT v4. DSSAT v4 assesses crop production,
nutrient management, climatic risk, and environmental sustainability.
Participants will use their own datasets to determine the
models' accuracy for specific problems; analyze management
alternatives for the short or long term; assess economic risks
and environmental impacts associated with agricultural production;
and use DSSAT with socioeconomic analyses to link on-farm
information with biophysical models. Case studies developed
by the participants will be collated into a special publication.
Refresher sessions will also be offered before the workshop
itself. The event is organized by CPWF, AfNet, and DMP; the
presenter is ICASA; and trainers will be from the Universities
of Florida and Georgia (USA) and ICRISAT-Bamako.
For more information, contact André
Bationo (a.bationo@cgiar.org) or Ramadjita
Tabo (r.tabo@cgiar.org)
Workshop on Participatory Approaches
to Research and Scaling Up
 Thirty-seven
scientists from 17 African countries took a 12-day course
to learn about farmer participatory research (FPR) and scaling
up (SU). These approaches would help increase the relevance
and impact of their R&D work on integrated soil fertility
management. Themes dealt with the concepts, principles, methodology,
and skills of effective FPR and SU; skills in participatory
data collection and analysis; how to communicate and disseminate
successful results and technologies; conduct participatory
marketing; and scale both up and out. Held in Nairobi, Kenya,
in September 2005, the workshop was facilitated by CIAT's
TSBF and ERI, and other entities. It was organized by AfNet
(of TSBF), ICRISAT, and CERAAS; and sponsored by CTA, CORAF/WECARD,
ADB, UNEP-GEF, DMP, CPWF, and PRGA Program.
For more information, contact André
Bationo (a.bationo@cgiar.org) or Ramadjita
Tabo (r.tabo@cgiar.org)
Training
Course on DSSAT Version 4
23-28
August 2004, Arusha, Tanzania
This course
aims to familiarize participants with DSSAT,
a comprehensive computer model for the simulation of crop
growth and yield, soil and plant water, nutrient and carbon
dynamics and their application to real world problems. DSSAT
v4 comprises the following modules: CROPGRO, CERES, CERES-Rice,
SUBSTOR, CROPSIM-CERES, and CENTURY. It also has tools and
utility programs for managing data on soil, climate, genetics,
crops, economics, and pests; and has application and analysis
programs. The training, organized by AfNet (TSBF, CIAT), Project
5 (CP-Water and Food, ICRISAT), and ICASA, will be led by
G. Hoogenboom, University of Georgia, J.W. Jones, University
of Florida and Pierre Sibiry Traore of ICRISAT.
Recommendation
to international participants: Arrive one or two days early
so you can adjust to time-zone differences and recover from
travel fatigue. (more information)
Download
the announcement (169 kb)
Contact: André
Bationo (AfNet
Coordinator)
'Modeling Nutrient Management
in Tropical Cropping Systems' Conference Proceedings Published
In tropical regions, organic materials are often more important
than fertilizers in maintaining soil fertility, yet most crop
models are unable to take account of the level and quality
of organic inputs that farmers use. These proceedings report
the achievements of a project supported by the Australian
Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
that aims to test and improve the capability of the Agricultural
Production Systems Simulator (APSIM)
to predict the decomposition of various organic inputs, dynamics
of nitrogen and phosphorus in soil, and their effect on crop
yields. The project was implemented through the CGIAR's
SWNM program
in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO)
and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI).
See the
proceedings
Contact: Robert
Delve
A New International Initiative to Tap
Below-Ground Biodiversity
CIAT’s Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) Institute,
based in Nairobi, Kenya, will coordinate an ambitious new
project—"Conservation and Sustainable Management
of Below-Ground Biodiversity"—with funding from
the Global Environment Facility, or GEF.
Through the project a consortium of institutions in seven
countries—Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, India, Indonesia,
Kenya, Mexico, and Uganda—will develop improved methods
for conserving and managing the extraordinarily diverse community
of soil organisms (including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and
invertebrate animals), which represent a huge segment of global
biodiversity. This work will lead to improvement in vital
environmental services, such as regulation of greenhouse gas
emissions, and provide farmers in the tropics with new options
for intensifying agriculture while protecting natural resources.
For more information see the news
release from the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and
a short project description.
International
Soil Fertility Symposium
 An
international symposium on helping farmers raise soil fertility
was held on 17-21 May 2004 at Yaoundé, Cameroon. Organized
by the African Network for Soil Biology and Fertility (AfNet)
of CIAT's Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF), the
event had three central objectives: (1) to review the state
of the art in integrated soil fertility management (ISFM),
(2) to propose strategies for scaling up technologies that
enhance soil fertility, and (3) to broaden awareness of new
initiatives in natural resource management, with emphasis
on the concept of integrated agricultural research for development
(IAR4D).
For more information, download the symposium
announcement (246 kb)
Contact: André
Bationo
New Alliance to Raise the Fertility of Tropical
Soils
The global cause of halting tropical soil degradation has
a new but familiar ally. It's the Alliance for Integrated
Soil Fertility Management in Africa, formed recently by the
former TSBF Programme, CIAT, and the International Centre
for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF).
As a first step in creating the alliance, the TSBF Institute
of CIAT was established under an agreement signed in December
2001 at Center headquarters in Colombia. Subsequently, CIAT
and ICRAF agreed on terms for a wider arrangement that fully
integrates the soils research of the three founding organizations.
Scientists from these organizations met during early March
with technical advisers from interested donor agencies for
a 3-day strategy-development workshop (further
details).
Download
(334 kb) a document summarizing the workshop's outcomes, entitled
"Soil Fertility Degradation in sub-Saharan Africa: Leveraging
Lasting Solutions to a Long-Term Problem."
Soil Fertility Degradation in
Sub-Saharn Africa: Leveraging Lasting Solutions to a Long-Term
Problem
A Workshop at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio
Conference Centre, March 4th-8th, 2002
Soil fertility degradation has been described
as the single most important constraint to food security in
sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite proposals for a diversity
of solutions and the investment of time and resources by a
wide range of institutions it continues to prove a substantially
intransigent problem. Three international agricultural research
centers (IARCs), CIAT, TSBF, and ICRAF,
have recently joined forces in an alliance targeted at tackling
this challenge. The objectives of the workshop were to: (1)
Present the new alliance between the three organizations,
(2) Review tropical soil degradation and proposed solutions,
(3) Identify mechanisms to sustain an integrated attack on
this long-term problem.
(More
information in the Comminutor,
the TSBF Institute of CIAT newsletter)
Investing in Farmer's Future
An open alliance to restore soil fertility in Africa
 Last
March, as world leaders meeting at Monterrey, Mexico, implored
rich countries to double their development aid, a group of
international agricultural researchers was building the case
for greater investment in the restoration of tropical soils,
especially in Africa. Only by raising soil fertility, the
scientists argued, will the 85 percent of Africa’s poor
who live in rural areas be able to achieve food security and
increase farm incomes. To the extent that rural communities
succeed in making agriculture more dynamic and competitive,
any new development aid that does come their way should do
a lot more good.
In a determined effort to create the conditions for that
success, three international agricultural research organizations
have recently joined forces by establishing the Alliance for
Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Africa. The founding
partners are CIAT, the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility
(TSBF) Programme, and the International Centre for Research
in Agroforestry (ICRAF).
Read
the whole story
Strength in Unity
Collaborative soils research for Central America
 In
search of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts,
international and national organizations engaged in soils
research have made a sizable investment during recent years
in building collaborative networks, often with impressive
results.
One product of these efforts is the Integrated Soil Management
(MIS) Consortium for Central America. This is one of four
R&D consortia sponsored by the CGIAR’s Soil, Water,
and Nutrient Management (SWNM) Program, which CIAT coordinates.
MIS aims to improve the livelihoods of small farmers by developing
improved practices for integrated management of fragile soils.
Members work toward this end through joint research projects
at shared "reference" sites—two in Honduras
and two in Nicaragua.
Contact: Miguel
Ayarza
Read
the whole story in our last issue of Growing Affinities
Know more about MIS and our work
in Central America
Barriers That Permit Progress
Making soil conservation pay in Colombia
 A
lot of people would like to have my land," says José
Balcué, a weatherbeaten, 68-year-old farmer. "But I’m
not going to sell it!"
His farm, "La Camelia," is perched on a steep slope
leading down to the Cabuyal River in the community of Caldono
in Colombia’s Cauca Department. Despite its difficult
topography, Don José is proud of the farm, because it shows
no signs of soil erosion, its soils require no chemical fertilizers,
and, by maintaining a constant output of diverse agricultural
products over the years, it has enabled him to raise his six
children.
Read
the whole story in our last issue of Growing Affinities
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