OVERVIEW

There is a severe lack of data and information in Liberia on soil resources, land use and soil capability to support agricultural use. In addition, there is no central repository for soil data where such data are stored in a standardized and accessible way. There are several initiatives undertaken currently aiming to transform agriculture in Liberia and to improve the performance of the agricultural commodity value chains. For example, under the Team Europe Initiative for safe and Sustainable Food Systems (TELSSFSs), e.g. Liberia Rice Value Chain Project'; along with an on-going SIDA-sponsored GROW-2 programme for Liberia as well as a recently started EU-funded IFAD intiative on 'Investing in Livelihood Resilience and Soil Health in ACP Countries' (ILSA) for Liberia.

All these initiatives require reliable land and soil information for the planning and targeting of their interventions. The lack of such information has long been recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) as a severe constraint to efforts to develop the agriculture and forestry sectors in Liberia. Recently, FAO developed the Liberia Soil Information System (LibSIS). LibSIS contains maps of Soil properties for Liberia that are generated based on a limited number of points sampled in Nimba County only. It is considered a pilot study, and the functionality of the system is limited. This action (Soil4Liberia) aims to build on LibSIS to develop a full fletched system that provides information on soil quality and status of the soil resources in Liberia.