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Afghanistan Soil Information System (Afsis) - TCP/AFG/3601

Year of publication 2019

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 9p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Over 80 percent of Afghanistan’s population lives in ruralareas, where the main income comes from agriculturalproduction. On-farm management practices are oftenhighly extensive, putting the country’s soils under intensepressure and causing various types of degradation.Available data on Afghanistan’s soils are limited andearlier soil surveys have lacked a systematic approachand standardized methods. Sustainable soil managementrequires systematic soil data collection through fieldsurveys and the continuous monitoring of soil propertiesorganized into an appropriate data base and soilinformation system (SIS). The creation of such a system,providing accurate and up-to-date soil information, is thusa high priority, as it will enable sustainable landmanagement at farm level and assist in the efficientmonitoring of land degradation processes.Once in place, the Afghanistan Soil Information System(AfSIS) will contain data and information relating tothe spatial variability of soil types and soil propertiesintegrated with such natural co-variables as climate,vegetation, geology, relief conditions, hydrology andhydrography. It can be continuously upgraded andextended with new information from the field andwill serve as a reference centre for storing all valuablesoil data.The aim of the project was to identify, collect, evaluate,synchronize and systematize existing soil and non-soildata into a geodatabase integrating the various data sets.The data stored will enable the application of digital soilmapping (DSM) tools and models for the prediction ofspatial distribution of soil properties, the identificationof possible threats and pressures, risk assessment andthe implementation of measures to mitigate soildegradation processes. The project would also strengthenthe technical capacities of the country’s soil sciencecommunity in the conduct of systematic and standardizedfield and laboratory soil properties analyses.

Language English

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