Soils, science and the politics of knowledge: How African smallholder farmers are framed and situated in the global debates on integrated soil fertility management

The paper addresses an important and often overlooked cultural aspect of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This relates to how different policy organisations conceptualise soil management problem, its causes and solutions and how these framings intersect with, and incorporate smallholders’ indigenous knowledge. The article provides a brief review of the positionality of modernists and post-modernists on knowledge production and the politics which the process entails. Considering the ideology of some continental and global initiatives on integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), the paper identifies and addresses institutional framings of soil fertility problem in SSA. It also analyses the political economy [and ecology] of soil management in SSA; and investigates how farmers’ knowledge are incorporated into ISFM in the sub-continent. Drawing from some empirical evidences, the paper suggests that there is need for an economically viable and socio-culturally acceptable framework for the integration of both western and local knowledge in ISFM.

► The positionality of modernists and post-modernists on the politics of knowledge production are provided.
► The paper identifies and addresses institutional framings of soil fertility problem in SSA.
► The paper analyses the political economy and ecology of soil management.
► The viewpoints of both farmers and soil scientists were compared and contrasted.
► Economically viable and socio-culturally acceptable framework is proposed for ISFM implementation.