The Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) is based at the WAF centre in Nairobi and is funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with supplemental funding from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The four-year project term began in November 2008.

Knowledge about the condition of African soils is highly fragmented and outdated. Therefore, there is an urgent need for accurate, current, and spatially referenced soil information to support agriculture and, trough this, support the food security in Africa.

AfSIS is developing a practical, cost-effective soil health surveillance service. It’s goal is to map soil conditions, set baselines for monitoring changes, and provide options for improved soil and land management. In collaboration with developments in technologies that allow for accurate collection and prediction of soil properties, this project will facilitate the identification of areas at risk of soil degradation and advise on preventive and rehabilitative soil management interventions.

This projects ability to evaluate, map and monitor soil management at significantly reduced costs is a result of recent advances in digital soil mapping, infrared spectroscopy, remote sensing, statistics, and integrated soil fertility management.

The project will also disseminate innovative soil management methods such as the combination of inorganic fertilizers with organic inputs that improve crop yields as well as enhancing the environment.

A comprehensive training program will furthermore make the projects data and methods highly accessible to farm communities, public and private extension services, national agricultural research and soil survey organizations, the fertilizer sector, project and local planners, national and regional policymakers, and scientists.

This project, established in Africa is part of a wider, global effort to digitally map the world's soil resources, and is expected to catalyze the global effort.