Grenada conducts regional digital soil mapping training

To address the issue of land degradation, regional technicians and stakeholders from the Caribbean Small-Island Developing States (CSIDS) recently attended a week-long training session in St. George’s, Grenada. There, they learned about utilizing tools essential for understanding and modelling Soil Organic Carbon sequestration. Twenty-seven candidates from eight nations of the CSIDS multi-country Soil Management Initiative for Integrated Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Food Systems (SOILCARE) project, Phase 1, took part in the programme. 

The eight member states are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia.

The workshop was the second in a series of courses on digital soil-mapping under the SOILCARE project. The participants were given certificates after the event concluded. 

The training was organized by the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) in collaboration with the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) mechanism of the Food and Agriculture Organisation and funding from the Global Environment Facility.

What the participants learned

During the training, the candidates engaged in exploring and comparing carbon gaps and correlated them to their own country’s potential. The session helped them strengthening their awareness about the recommended management measures. It also focused on use of tools, software and methods to calculate carbon stocks-considerate factors such as land use and soil types. 

The participants included, besides scientists, land use officers, lab technicians, officials from the Grenadian government, including technical staff members from the ministries of agriculture and environment who earlier took part in the digital soil-mapping training under the same project in 2023 and 2024. 

What the participants said

Some of them shared their experience at the session and how the knowledge gained would help them enhance strategies in their own countries. 

One participant said the training was new to him in terms of the art studio application and how one compiles the data into the application. “I believe the soil organic carbon data will really have us emphasize the importance of carbon sequestration,” he said. 

Another said the training was very rewarding as some information presented was key in terms of sustainable production and environment and the challenges the region faces currently. “Regionally, it is very helpful when see in the context of climate change and other challenges. We can set up predictive models and take decisions and policies,” he added. 

One woman participant said they learned about the significance of soil organic sequestration in the small-island developing states and how it would help reduce greenhouse gases. She said they also gathered important training on issues like art studio applications.

One of the officials present at the training session stressed the importance of such training and said, “We have to pay more attention to soil analysis to data using it to make decisions that we can inform farmers and agriculture practitioners so that they can achieve better results. The government is a key stakeholder and has to participate and inform farmers and cultivators how they can benefit,” he said. 

Grenadian Agriculture Minister Lennox Andrews, who delivered remarks at the opening of the workshop, lauded the continued capacity-building initiatives under the project, including the SOC Sequestration Modelling Training.