Our Team "Mission Nutrition" consists of five students who study earth sciences at the University of Basel. We want to use our skills in order to develop a project, that helps rural peasants in Africa to manage their soil efficiently.
3. Food security
There will be 9 billion people by 2050
- We must develop new technologies and techniques
to produce more feed, fiber, food and fuel
- With less land, less water, less energy,
and fewer nutrient inputs
- Achieving this will require improved crops
and ….
novel soil management strategies
4. The importance of soil
- Soil is a fundamental resource for life providing the basis for
food and biomass production
- Soil filters our water and helps regulate many of the
important greenhouse gases
- Soil is a non-renewable resource, which generated within
hundreds or even thousands of years
Conclusion:
Soil is one of the most valuable natural resource on earth
5. Project objectives
- Testing the general soil condition and nutrient content of
soils of small-scale farmers in East-Africa,
by using in-situ testing with soil-testing kits and remote
sensing methods
- Creating a Soil-Database with the obtained information
- Providing access for the small-scale farmers to appropriate
fertilizers (“fingerprint”fertilizer) and thus improving the
efficiency of nutrient cycling in the soil and increasing the
crop yield at the same time
6. Project : Step 1
- Form a network of local experts: including university
members and employees of syngenta as well as
representatives of local farmers
- Gain the confidence of the local small-scale farmers
- Give free advice on tillage, fertilizer and cultivation
- Database and equipment (small lab) is set on an offroad-
vehicle which drives from settlement to settlement
7. Project : Step 2
- Sell seed and fertilizers that specifically match to the soil
properties
- Prices are adapted to the proceed of the crop sale
- Establish a person who controls crop yield and sale
(preferably women)
8. Positive aspects
- Improving quality and quantity of crop
- Improving soil properties
- Improving quality of water in the course of fertilizer
reduction in a region where no/few water treatment plants
are present
- The database is advantageous for producers of agricultural
products
- Women are included in the project
9. Mission Nutrition
Our project „specialized soil management“ is:
Sustainable, economically advantageous and
environmentally beneficial
