In Ecuador, RECSOIL collaborates with the FAO's Forest and Farm Facility (FFF), which seeks to empower Forest and Farm Producer Organizations (FFPO) members to become primary agents of change towards climate-resilient landscapes and improved livelihoods. FFF-Ecuador works with FFPOs to foster productivity and sustainability at the farm and landscape level through services that benefit the organizational collective of small-scale producers. As part of this work, the FFF supports the FFPOs in various arenas, including market access, advocacy, information, and capacity building. With RECSOIL, they aim to regenerate the soil of cocoa agroforestry systems and to improve the management of organic solid waste from a circular economy approach at the municipal level.

The on-ground implementation of RECSOIL Ecuador is carried out in close cooperation with the local FFPO Corporación Fortaleza del Valle, which covers four grassroots organizations and brings together 1 000 organic cocoa producers in the Manabí region, west in the country. Corporación Fortaleza del Valle is an important ally for RECSOIL implementation, with broad experience working with small-scale cocoa producers, providing market support and technical advice. For example, Corporación Fortaleza del Valle is repowering a bio-compost facility to help RECSOIL farmers use the waste from the municipal market to produce safe organic soil amendments, which improve soil health and productivity. 

From the ground up: Building local capacities to ensure successful implementation and long-term sustainability

The GSP works with local and national governments, institutions, and stakeholders to implement RECSOIL. Thirty participants attended the five-day online RECSOIL training, including technicians from Corporación Fortaleza del Valle, as well as academics from the Technical University of Manabí (UTM), the Higher Polytechnic Agricultural School of Manabí Manuel Félix López (ESPAM), and the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP). The agenda covered a range of theoretical and practical aspects concerning the RECSOIL implementation in Ecuador. 

The main objective of the training was to provide collaborators with the technical tools necessary for monitoring, reporting, and verifying the effect of SSM on soil health and soil organic carbon stocks at the RECSOIL pilot sites. The participants will support project design and data collection, collaborate in identifying suitable SSM practices, and support farmers adopting SSM practices to enhance the provision of ecosystem services. This country-driven approach is instrumental to the RECSOIL initiative, ensuring local capacity building and enabling the long-term adoption of good agricultural practices. 

Capacity budling is at the core of all RECSOIL activities. The initial training focused on stratifying the project area into homogeneous assessment units, presenting standardized procedures for data collection and management, and harmonized sampling. The next phase of trainings will focus on training trainers for the Soil Doctors Programme, who will then support producers to better understand the state of their soil and address degradation processes through SSM. Training will also occur in the coming months for soil laboratory personnel supporting the RECSOIL initiative. The Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) will train national experts on using standardized operating procedures and quality control to ensure the quality and reliability of data generated within the project.

Increasing soil organic carbon and tackling soil pollution 

The project area in Ecuador is dominated by organic agroforestry cocoa production, with naturally occurring cadmium as the primary soil threat. The GSP and local stakeholders will work together to identify SSM practices to enhance soil health, particularly tackling cadmium pollution. Implementing SSM to improve soil characteristics, such as nutrient balance, pH, and carbon levels, can alleviate the effects of pollution by reducing bioavailability and plant uptake of the contaminants. The bio-compost facility will be an important tool providing farmers with access to safe nutrient cycling and organic fertilizers.

Healthy soils also have numerous co-benefits, contributing to long-term food security, provision of ecosystem services, and climate change mitigation and adaptation, ultimately benefiting all community members. By strengthening the foundation of our food system - the soil that yields our food - we boost resilience and build a more sustainable food system.