Soil and land health survey to characterize two-100 km2 sites using the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) within Babati district, Tanzania

This was Task 1.2. “Soil survey to characterize two sentinel sites” as part of Work Package 1 “Identification of the key biophysical production constraints to crops and livestock at farm and landscape levels” The aim of this task was to conduct an assessment of soil and land health in the Babati district in Tanzania covering the action villages of the USAID- AfricaRISING project. The Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) was employed to conduct a systematic biophysical baseline of key land and soil health metrics, which was to be combined with agronomic survey data collected as part of the wider project. The LDSF is designed to provide a biophysical baseline at landscape level, and a monitoring and evaluation framework for assessing processes of land degradation and the effectiveness of rehabilitation measures (recovery) over time. Babati Agricultural District Office and Tanzania National Agricultural Research System as well as Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) staff were involved in two one-week trainings in the LDSF methodology at the Long and Matufa LDSF sites. Those trained include: Majid Suleiman (District Agricultural Officer), Edgar Wakurwa (District Agronomist), Mbwambo (Extension Officer), Prosper Massawe from Selian Agricultural Research Institute and Boniface Massawe, from SUA. George Sayula of SARI also helped coordinate the field efforts. Local farmers were also involved in the surveys and farmer knowledge on management practices and land use history was incorporated into the LDSF database.

本任务为工作包1"识别农场与景观尺度下制约作物及畜禽生产的关键生物物理限制因子"下属的子任务1.2——"表征两个哨兵点的土壤调查"。本任务旨在对坦桑尼亚巴巴蒂区内覆盖USAID-非洲崛起（AfricaRISING）项目行动村落的区域开展土壤与土地健康状况评估。本次研究采用土地退化监测框架（Land Degradation Surveillance Framework, LDSF），系统采集关键土地与土壤健康指标的生物物理基线数据，并将其与该大型项目中收集的农艺调查数据进行整合。该框架旨在提供景观尺度的生物物理基线，并搭建一套监测评估体系，用于评估土地退化进程以及随时间推移的修复措施（恢复措施）实施成效。巴巴蒂区农业办公室、坦桑尼亚国家农业研究系统，以及索科因农业大学（Sokoine University of Agriculture, SUA）的工作人员，在Long与Matufa两个LDSF站点参与了两次为期一周的LDSF方法学培训。参训人员包括：区农业官员Majid Suleiman、区农艺师Edgar Wakurwa、推广官员Mbwambo、塞利安农业研究所（Selian Agricultural Research Institute, SARI）的Prosper Massawe，以及索科因农业大学的Boniface Massawe。SARI的George Sayula亦协助协调了野外工作。本地农户同样参与了本次调查，农户关于土地管理实践与土地利用历史的认知数据也被纳入LDSF数据库。