The Information Centre for Low-External-Input and Sustainable Agriculture (ILEIA) contracted ISRIC to carry out soil investigations in pilot areas located in Ghana, Peru, and the Philippines (1995-1996). The overriding objective of ILEIA was to assess the potential of Low External Input Agriculture (LEISA) in ecological zones with edaphic constraints.
The project was carried out in close collaboration with the Institute of Soil Research in Kumasi, the Bureau of Soil and Water Management in Manila, and the Soil Department of the Universidad Nacional de la Molina in Lima. These organisations worked in close cooperation with farmers and NGOs in the respective pilot areas.
Comparison and integration of views of farmers and scientists on soils was the central activity of the project, the objective being to contribute to a participatory process to address soil-related production constraints of farming.
The project provided soil and natural resource scientists with a unique experience in working directly with local communities, with particular focus on comparing and integrating classical methodologies of soil survey with local knowledge of soils and their agricultural potential. Findings have been presented in three technical report and on article in the ILEA newsletter.