CABI is now offering a free online course on Sustainable Soil Management Practices, available worldwide. The course, created by experts in soil health and management, provides users with essential knowledge and tools to assist farmers in tackling current soil health issues.
Soil health is essential to many functions that ecosystems support, including providing clean air and water, and it also underpins agricultural productivity. Pressures on soil health threaten the maintenance of these functions and can greatly reduce yields.
However, specific soil management practices can enhance soil resilience, ultimately leading to higher crop yields and sustainable agricultural productivity.
Course objectives
The course enables advisors to provide farmers with solutions that contribute to the protection of the soil to improve soil health and increase crop yield.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Outline the relationship between soil management, food security and the environment
- Develop knowledge about practical soil health solutions that work on a larger scale to address regional environmental issues
- Evaluate the broader regional context of soil health and advise farmers on practices that suit their individual circumstances
- Facilitate a network of farmers to share and promote effective soil management practices
Course structure
This course is made up of 3 sections:
- Section 1: Introduction to soil and how soil management practices can improve the quality and quantity of food crops for food security.
- Section 2: Identification of soil types by texture and structure and common issues affecting different types of soil.
- Section 3: Management practices to address common soil health issues, through soil management plan creation.
Course assessment
Once you feel confident enough to have your learning assessed, you can gain Foundation and Practitioner certificates by successfully completing multiple choice-based assessments.
- The Foundation assessment assesses your ability to recall information from the course.
- The Practitioner assessment assesses your ability to apply your learning to a variety of scenarios.
The pass mark for the assessments is 80%. When you pass and have completed the end-of-course questionnaire, you will receive a CABI Academy certificate.
Created by
This course has been researched and compiled by lead subject matter expert, Lydia Wanja Ireri Wairegi.
Lydia is an experienced system agronomist and communication specialist with a PhD in plant production systems.
In addition to this, the following CABI scientific team members have assisted in the creation of the course contents:
- Anna Wood – ICM advisor
- Lydiah Gatere – Climate change expert
- Rob Reeder – PlantwisePlus programme support manager
- Ulrich Kuhlmann – Executive director, global operations
Who is it for?
This course is designed for people who work in agro-services and who give advice to farmers, such as extension workers and agro-input deals, but can also benefit farmers or agricultural students.
Accessibility
Currently, the course is free for all and available in English. The course length is estimated at 6 to 8 hours.
Register now
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