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A soil's chemical, physical, and biological properties dictate how well plants are likely to grow in it. Soils in the tropics are often exposed to intense sun and alternating periods of drought and high rainfall. Tropical soils are commonly degraded to the point where they can no longer sustain crop growth. However, there are inputs and strategies for restoring and maintaining soil health and productivity to be favorable for plant growth. ECHO encourages farmers never to give up hope on their soil and provides an array of options to help ameliorate poor soil conditions. As long as there is sufficient soil depth to accommodate crop roots, amendments and management practices can be adopted that transform soil into a substrate in which plants not only survive but thrive. Even naturally infertile soils and soils with very low water-holding capacity can become more productive with proper management and inputs over time. ECHO values organic matter retention, crop diversification, and minimal tillage for improving and maintaining soil health while minimizing reliance on capital-intensive inputs. ECHO’s resources and training cover topics focus on long-term soil health, covering topics such as farmer-made fertility inputs, green manure/cover cropping (GMCC), Foundations for Farming, mulching, composting, and many others, depending on the assets, context, and needs.



  1. This article is from ECHO Asia Note # 36. Soil chemical, physical, and biological properties range from those highly favorable to plant growth to those highly unfavorable to plant growth. It is rare—especially in the tropics—to find a soil in its natural state in which all properties are highly...
  2. Ressource principale
    01/01/1985 Green manure crops are crops that are [often times in North America] grown to be turned under to increase soil fertility. Leguminous green manure crops ( i.e., those which can make nitrogen fertilizers from atmospheric nitrogen) can offer small-scale Third World farmers a tremendous number of...
  3. This green manure cover crop selection tool is an interactive way to discover which varieties are appropriate for your unique situation. By changing the conditions and requirements a prioritized list of potentially appropriate crops is generated. Each of these plants can be sourced through the...
  4. Les EVCC sont des cultures à croissance rapide qui couvrent et protègent le sol, et sont laissées comme paillage ou enfouies pour enrichir le sol. Les légumineuses sont privilégiées pour leur capacité à fixer l’azote. Elles peuvent être semées, mais certaines forment des racines au niveau des...
  5. 01/01/2012 Strong gradients of decreasing soil fertility are found in many regions of the world. Millions of smallholders are now facing this serious crisis which causes them lower crop yields, and many of these families also suffer from food insecurity. With the aim of promoting recovering soil fertility...
  6. 01/07/2011 This article is from ECHO Asia Note #10 Introduction During the late rainy season, the permanent hill fields that surround a cluster of hilltribe villages in the Chiang Dao district of northern Thailand radiate various hues of green. These verdant fields, belonging to ethnic Lisu, Lahu, Akha,...
  7. Ressource principale
    26/05/2017 L’intégration de légumineuses dans les systèmes agricoles permet aux petits agriculteurs qui disposent de peu de ressources d’améliorer la santé et la résilience à long terme de leurs sols. Le succès ou l’échec de cette activité dépend dans une large mesure de la sélection de légumineuses...
  8. 01/08/2017 La baisse, voire la perte de fertilité des sols, est le défi majeur que rencontre de plus en plus d’agriculteurs de par le monde en général et particulièrement ceux d’Afrique subsaharienne. De nombreuses causes essentiellement anthropiques sont à l’origine de cette situation. En dépit des...
  9. Vegetable crops thrive in healthy soil. Farmers can improve the quality of their soil and provide nutrients for their plants by making and adding compost to their fields or planting beds. In this video produced by the World Vegetable Center for the VINESA project, researcherEmanuel Pallangyo...
  10. Ressource principale
    14/11/2012 L’UNCCD estime que plus de 250 millions de personnes sont touchées par la dégradation des terres et qu’environ 1 milliard de personnes dans plus de 100 pays sont à risque. Selon l’OMM, 33% de la superficie terrestre de la planète est vulnérable à la dégradation des terres. Elle estime notamment...
  11. Ressource principale
    01/01/2012 Dawn Berkelaar a écrit un article sur ce système agricole dans le numéro 98 d’EDN, en collaboration avec Martin Price et Danny Blank. À l’époque, cette technique s’appelait « Culture à la mode de Dieu » (Farming God’s Way, FGW). Par la suite, ce nom a été remplacé par « Fondements pour l’...
  12. 01/08/2017 Le "Foundation for Farming" est souvent traduit en Français par Les Fondements de l'Agriculture qui a son origine dans la méthode "Farming God's Way" (Agriculture Selon le Principes de Dieu). Dans le Sahel il est surtout connu sous le nom de "Zaï" ou les "trous agricoles". Dans la pratique, le...
  13. 01/07/2013 Conservation agriculture (CA) has been promoted in East Africa through a number of initiatives over the past half year. In this article, we share what ECHO has gleaned from regional partners, in hopes that you can expand upon these successes and also promote further sharing on ECHO’s website....
  14. Ressource principale
    17/08/2016 Les agriculteurs et les jardiniers des régions semi-arides et arides du monde sont confrontés à deux problèmes associés mais distincts, qui restreignent les cultures qu'ils peuvent produire et le rendement de ces cultures. Le problème sous-jacent est le manque de précipitations nécessaires pour...
  15. 01/10/2019 Acidic soils are soils with a pH lower than 7. For most plants, having a pH between 6 and 7.5 is ideal (see table 1 for more exact numbers), but soils can become dangerous when their pH drops beneath 4.5. As the pH drops, aluminum becomes more soluble, toxifying the soil and harming the plants....
  16. This article is from ECHO Asia Note #17 Around the world, many agriculturists and gardeners are adopting soil amendments and fertilizers that are called bokashi. Bokashi is a Japanese word that has no good translation into English, according to Yukiko Oyanagi, a staffer with the Asian Rural...
  17. 06/02/2018 Speaker Bio: Dr. Tom Thompson is Associate Dean and Director of International Programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Professor of Agronomy at Virginia Tech. He earned B.S. , M.S. , and Ph.D. degrees in agronomy and soil science. He was an academic department head at two...
  18. Composting is the natural process of 'rotting' or decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms under controlled conditions. Raw organic materials such as crop residues, animal wastes, food garbage, some municipal wastes and suitable industrial wastes, enhance their suitability for...
  19. Foundations for Farming is an initiative aimed at bringing transformation to individuals, communities and nations through faithful and productive use of land. God has revealed a very simple conservation farming method with an implementation management teaching,which when applied help people to...
  20. Ressource principale
    20/01/2013 Environ 98% de la production agricole dans les régions soudano-sahéliennes d’Afrique occidentale et centrale est basée sur les cultures pluviales. Avec une pluviométrie annuelle moyenne de 300 à 800 mm/an, le nombre de cultures de base est très limité. On distingue deux céréales: le mil...
  21. 20/04/2014 EDN 122 highlighted multi-purpose cowpea varieties with spreading vines that cover the soil. Below is an ECHO research update from South Africa relating our experience so far with a spreading cowpea variety intercropped with maize grown in a Foundations for Farming (FFF) system. “Living carpet”...
  22. Murindangabo, Yves Theoneste, Marek Kopecký, Petr Konvalina, Mohammad Ghorbani, Kristýna Perná, Thi Giang Nguyen, Jaroslav Bernas, Sadia Babar Baloch, Trong Nghia Hoang, Festus Onyebuchi Eze, and et al. 2023. "Quantitative Approaches in Assessing Soil Organic Matter Dynamics for Sustainable...