National soil information systems (NSIS) in Africa: Expert perceptions of status, challenges, and stakeholder collaboration

Abstract

Soil Information Systems (SIS) are critical frameworks for collecting, managing, and disseminating soil data to guide decision-making towards sustainable agricultural and environmental policies. Despite their global importance, SIS development in Africa remains limited and fragmented. Synthesizing African experts’ knowledge on the requirements and barriers for developing robust and sustainable NSIS in Africa is pressing for effective and prioritized recommendations. A structured questionnaire was used to survey 81 soil information experts from twenty-seven (27) African countries. Close-ended questions were framed to comprehensively assess the understanding and the need for country-based SIS, current data infrastructure, institutional, technical, and financial challenges, stakeholder collaboration and data-sharing mechanisms within the SIS framework. The respondents are staff members of national soil information mandates. Composite indicators were generated by averaging recoded survey items within thematic sections and then subjected to Pearson correlation analysis. Results indicate that >80% of respondents are familiar with the SIS concept, but only a very small proportion (11%) use it daily or weekly. A large majority of respondents (>90%) consider NSIS as a tool for supporting policy processes and boosting agricultural production. With regards to soil data, a substantial volume of Africa’s soil information remains confined to hardcopy archives or fragmented within legacy data systems. The major challenge in the development of NSIS includes financial constraints, with >80% of respondents characterizing available funding initiatives as very limited. Stakeholder collaboration and data accessibility are currently weak, as reflected in the very low composite scores, with only 30% of respondents occasionally sharing their data. In general, there were low positive correlations between SIS familiarity/use and perceived usefulness (r = 0.29, p < 0.05) and between stakeholder collaboration and data accessibility (r = 0.28, p < 0.05), while a moderate relationship was found between data accessibility and perceived challenges (r = 0.40, p < 0.001). These findings emphasize the urgent need for harmonized methodologies, stronger institutional frameworks, capacity building, and enhanced regional cooperation to establish resilient and integrated NSIS that support sustainable land management and agricultural productivity across the continent. • There is good understanding of the SIS concept across Africa • A pressing need for NSIS across Africa is expressed • NSIS development in Africa faces numerous barriers • Stakeholder collaboration and engagement are key for NSIS development • A dozen strong recommendation for NSIS development formulated