ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the most recent years, characterised by an entirely new set-up of soil and soil fertility research and an increased influence of African institutions on its direction and of various stakeholders on its content. It is about 'work in progress', building on and extending experiences gathered during several years of decentralised Research-for-Development. In 2012, the CGIAR and its donors developed an entirely new strategy, structure and modus operandi for its network of international Centres. International research would henceforth be organised around several grand themes, called Consortium Research Programs (CRPs), in which different centres would participate according to their capabilities. Soil characterisation remains essential for agricultural research at any level. The 'African Cassava Agronomy Initiative' (ACAI) is a new project that started in 2016 and aims to develop such a fertiliser recommendation system for cassava production in Tanzania and Nigeria.
