Agricultural productivity is severely limited by extensive soil degradation, and enhancing finance for a just transition that restores soil health is critical in making food systems resilient, according to experts.
At a side event on Financing Soil Health and Restoration at COP29, the experts emphasised that improving soil health is key to boosting crop yields and restoring the negative impact traditional intensive agriculture has had on the environment.
“Without healthy soil, there is no point talking about food systems,” said Michelle Kagari, senior director at One Acre Fund.
Kagari noted that healthy soil is crucial in developing stronger and more resilient food systems.
She explained that the impact of degraded soils is particularly visible in Africa, where poor nutrient management and a history of soil mining have reduced soil fertility and health.
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She estimated that the soils in Sub-Saharan Africa are losing an average of 22 kilos of nitrogen, 2.5 kilos of phosphorus and 15 kilos of potassium per hectare, noting that it leads to declining soil fertility.
According to her, prioritising transformative, scalable solutions—like improving soil health is essential in building sustainable food systems.
“Soil is foundational to carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water retention, and food security, making it an essential pillar for sustainable development,” she said.
Kagari proposed three times increase of investment of $300 per smallholder farmer per year to enable a more climate-resilient food system.
She said that recent calculations indicated that $150 billion is what’s needed to bridge the gap between the climate finance smallholders are currently receiving and the amount required to help them live with the impact of climate change.
While that investment could generate more than three times the return, it is also an incredibly small amount for the transformation of agricultural practices.
Daneal Abo Moura, founder of the Youth Leaders Association described the soil as the planet’s largest living ecosystem, saying it is home to trillions of microorganisms essential for supporting plant life, sequestering carbon and recycling nutrients critical for human survival.
He said soil is being depleted at an alarming rate, with millions of hectares turning into desert each year, noting that the land degradation lowered agricultural productivity and releases stored carbon, worsening climate change.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) warns that if land degradation is left unchecked, 90 percent of the world’s soils could be degraded by 2050, further destabilising food systems as well as increasing poverty and hunger.
To avoid this, Moura called for the acceleration of global finance to restore soil health, capture carbon and strengthen water and climate resilience.
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