1st national soil sampling survey begins in over 30 years

The first national soil survey in over 30 years is being conducted and the exercise is part of efforts to strengthen the achievement of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), national reporting to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and improve the lives and livelihoods of farmers dependent on the sector.

This exercise, which will be complemented by the handover of laboratory equipment to support soil testing in the country, will aim to collect 319 samples in the 10 administrative regions of Guyana and be able to help the country to be able to test over 10 parameters of soil fertility including soil nutrients, soil carbon and others.
Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management Lakeram Singh explained, “Adequate soil carbon and soil fertility data were recognized as a major barrier faced by each of the participating countries under this project, and the region in general. This initiative is expected to support the Government and its technical agencies with the implementation of a practical and sustainable LDN Strategy together with achieving its food security goals.”
While the results from the survey is intended to be analysed and fed into updating soil maps of in Guyana, Commissioner of the Lands and Surveys Commission Enrique Monize, is hopeful that the exercise will, “Contribute towards updated information on our soil resources across the country, which was last comprehensively obtained during the 1950s-1960s.”
According to the Commissioner, “The soil information derived could benefit policy and decision making in terms of opening of new areas for agriculture and can lend to initiatives aimed at achieving and maintaining food security such as the CARICOM 25 by 2025 initiative.”
David Fredericks Senior Scientist at the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), confirmed that the Standard Methods of Soil Surveys at the 0 to 30 cm depths at the predetermined GPS locations were completed as part of the survey including in the Protected Areas.
The survey is led by Dr. Gaius Eudoxie- Deputy Dean at the University of the West Indies- St. Augustine. He said, “Data and information on the soils of Guyana are important to the conservation of the diversity of natural resources and sustainable development. Soils sit at the center of our triple environment crisis and is important particular for SIDS.”
Eudoxie is supported by 32 surveyors, divided into 8-four member teams with the expectation that the exercise will wrap up on March 21,2025.
The National Soil Sampling Survey is being funded to the tune of $15.5 million.
The survey which commenced on January 13, is being done in collaboration among the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM), the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, with support from the University of the West Indies. This is being done as part of Phase 1 of the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) multicounty soil management initiative for integrated landscape restoration and sustainable food systems: Phase 1 known as CSIDS-SOILCARE. It is a flagship project on soils funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and executed by the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) with the Food and Agricultural Organiation of the UN, as the implementing agency.