Although soil and agronomy data collection in Ethiopia has begun over 60 years ago, the data are hardly accessible as they are scattered across different organizations, mostly held in the hands of individuals (Ashenafi et al.,2020; Tamene et al.,2022), which makes them vulnerable to permanent loss. Cognizant of the problem, the Coalition of the Willing (CoW) for data sharing and access was created in 2018 with joint support and coordination of the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT and GIZ (https://www.ethioagridata.com/index.html). Mobilizing its members, the CoW has embarked on data rescue operations including data ecosystem mapping, collation, and curation of the legacy data, which was put into the central data repository for its members and the wider data user’s community according to the guideline developed based on the FAIR data principles and approved by the CoW. So far, CoW managed to collate and rescue about 20,000 legacy soil profile data and over 38,000 crop responses to fertilizer data (Tamene et al.,2022).
The legacy soil profile dataset (consisting of Profiles Site = 1,659 observations with 37 variables; Profiles Layer Field = 2,373 observations with 64 variables; Profiles Layer Lab= 2,373 observations with 76 variables) is extracted, transformed, and uploaded into a harmonized template , adapted from Batjes 2022; Leenaars et al, 2014, from the below source:
Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) Sustainable Land Management (SLM) program watershed-based soil profile data.
Reference:
Ashenafi, A., Tamene, L., and Erkossa, T. 2020. Identifying, Cataloguing, and Mapping Soil and Agronomic Data in Ethiopia. CIAT Publication No. 506. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 42 p. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/110868
Ashenafi, A., Erkossa, T., Gudeta, K., Abera, W., Mesfin, E., Mekete, T., Haile, M., Haile, W., Abegaz, A., Tafesse, D. and Belay, G., 2022. Reference Soil Groups Map of Ethiopia Based on Legacy Data and Machine Learning Technique: EthioSoilGrids 1.0. EGUsphere, pp.1-40. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-301
Tamene L; Erkossa T; Tafesse T; Abera W; Schultz S. 2021. A coalition of the Willing - Powering data-driven solutions for Ethiopian Agriculture. CIAT Publication No. 518. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 34 p. https://www.ethioagridata.com/Resources/Powering%20Data-Driven%20Solutions%20for%20Ethiopian%20Agriculture.pdf.
The Coalition of the Willing (CoW) website: https://www.ethioagridata.com/index.html.
Batjes, N.H., 2022. Basic principles for compiling a profile dataset for consideration in WoSIS. CoP report, ISRIC–World Soil Information, Wageningen. Contents Summary, 4(1), p.3.
Carvalho Ribeiro, E.D. and Batjes, N.H., 2020. World Soil Information Service (WoSIS)-Towards the standardization and harmonization of world soil data: Procedures Manual 2020.
Leenaars, J. G. B., van Oostrum, A.J.M., and Ruiperez ,G.M.: Africa Soil Profiles Database, Version 1.2. A compilation of georeferenced and standardised legacy soil profile data for Sub Saharan Africa (with dataset), ISRIC Report 2014/01, Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) project and ISRIC – World Soil Information, Wageningen, library.wur.nl/WebQuery/isric/2259472, 2014.
TERMS:
Access to the data is limited to the CoW members until the national soil and agronomy data-sharing directive of MoA is registered by the Ministry of Justice and released for implementation.
DISCLAIMER:
The dataset populated in the harmonized template consisting of 76 variables is extracted, transformed, and uploaded from the source document by the CoW. Hence, if any irregularities are observed, the data users have referred to the source document uploaded along with the dataset. Use of the dataset and any consequences arising from using it is the user’s sole responsibility.
