„Der Segen der Erde zum Brot uns werde.“ It is the soil, which gives us bread. Like this German proverb, most cultures express in traditional sayings what our modern agricultural societies sometimes seem to have forgotten: Healthy soils form the basis for any agricultural activity. Thus, sustainable land management (SLM), with a specific focus on soil fertility, is an essential prerequisite for a resilient food production and thus for long-term global food security. But how to convince and motivate relevant actors to manage their land and soil in a sustainable way – even if the productivity gains may only fully materialize in the long run?

Today, farmers do not only face global agricultural market demands. In addition, the environmental-friendly management of resources, like soils, water, or biodiversity, is affected by global climate change, land degradation and other biotic and abiotic stress factors. Thus, the choices of individual farmers or cooperatives on how to manage land – and especially soil – is embedded in a complex and multi-dimensional framework with the challenge to combine economic, environmental, and societal sustainability demands.

Against this background, HFFA Research is happy to announce its commission by the GIZ Sector Project “Soil Conservation, Combatting Desertification, Sustainable Land Management” (SV BoDeN) for developing an evidence-based practical manual on how to use incentives for scaling up SLM to generate wider impact in development cooperation. In addition to SV BoDeN, the manual will be realized in cooperation with GIZ Global Project “Soil Protection and Rehabilitation of Degraded Soil for Food Security” (ProSoil), both projects being implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The focus of the assignment is to provide clear guidance for GIZ project managers on how to practically decide for and implement relevant incentives in their given project-context. To scope and strategically organize existing incentive schemes for SLM, our expert team will base the development of the manual on a thorough analysis of existing research and literature. In addition, the manual will integrate practical experiences and lessons learned from relevant GIZ projects.

For more information, please contact steffen.noleppa@hffa-research.com or lina.staubach@hffa-research.com.