The Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) for Caribbean small island
developing states (CSIDS), with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and in
collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the University of the West Indies
(UWI St. Augustine) is executing a national soil survey in Antigua and Barbuda as part of the regional
project ‘Caribbean Small Island Developing States (CSIDS) Multi-Country Soil Management Initiative
for Integrated Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Food Systems: Phase 1 (CSIDS_SOILCARE
Phase 1).
The 4-year project, under its five components, involves eight participating countries namely, Antigua
and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia. The project was
launched in August 2022 in Antigua & Barbuda with support from the executing agency, PISLM, and in
partnership with FAO and national agencies. Through this collaborative effort, the project’s focus areas
include establishing the Caribbean Soil Laboratory Network and the Caribbean Soil Information System
for guiding the rehabilitation of degraded land and soils, building resilience against natural disasters and
climate change, enhancing food systems, and creating alternative livelihoods within the agricultural
sector.
To achieve these project outputs, project partners will conduct technical assessments of land and soil
degraded areas through soil sampling and laboratory testing methods to develop strategies for the
rehabilitation and restoration, engage in public education and awareness building, and develop policy to
strengthen financing mechanisms for building resiliency to land degradation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Trade, and Barbuda Affairs hereby informs the public that
under Component 1 of this project, a National Soil Survey will be executed both in Antigua and Barbuda
during the period Monday, June 5 th – Thursday, June 22 nd , 2023. As part of the activities, The Honorable
E.P Chet Greene is expected to launch the three-week exercise on Monday, June 5 th at the Ministry of
Agriculture Headquarters where national and regional project partners and stakeholders will be in
attendance.
Field Officers from various departments within the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of
Environment, and the Barbuda Council along with consultants from PISLM and UWI will embark on
collecting 120 soil samples which will span both Antigua and Barbuda based on digital soil sampling
combining soil groups and land use data. Given the vast amount of samples, it is highly likely that some
sites may fall on private properties and the sampling team would require access to successfully
undertake the activity. In this regard, the Ministry kindly requests the cooperation of the public and
private property owners in facilitating the technical project team’s access to designated sites.
The outcome of this exercise will be facilitating technical capacity building within the Ministry and non-
state persons and the production of state-of-the-art soil maps that will provide data on soil organic
content (SOC) among other indicators that will help improve decision-making on Sustainable Soil
Management (SSM) and Sustainable Land Management (SLM) issues, crop production, and livelihoods
nationally.
For more information please contact the Ministry Headquarters at +1(268)-462-1213 or the Permanent
Secretary’s secretariat via email at mafba@ab.gov.ag and Project Assistant, Ms. Simone Dias at
soilcarepaang@pislmsids.org . For ongoing updates, please visit the Ministry’s website and Facebook
page.
To find out more about the project, visit PISLM at their website pislmsids.org , and Facebook at
facebook.com/csids.SOILCARE .
