“Smallholder farmers are facing hotter seasons, longer dry spells, and fertilizer prices they cannot always afford. Rock dust could help on all three fronts, but that has to be shown in African fields first,” said John Choptiany, Resilience and Climate Adaptation Program Lead at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Mati Carbon has signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with IITA at the COP31 conference held in Antalya, Türkiye. The partnership aims to generate performance evidence on enhanced rock weathering in African farming systems through joint field trials in Kenya and Nigeria.
The collaboration will evaluate the effects of crushed basalt spread on soil health and crop growth. Teams on the ground will test enhanced rock weathering performance alongside reduced synthetic fertilizer use, while working to identify the specific soil types and farm systems where the approach works best.
Data from these trials will feed directly into two CGIAR Science Programs. The CGIAR Sustainable Farming Program connects results to advisory services reaching smallholder farmers across more than 20 countries, while the CGIAR Climate Action Program applies the evidence to help farming systems adapt to heat and drought.
“These trials will tell us whether it can help farmers get more from every bag of fertilizer and keep their harvests steady when the weather turns against them,” Choptiany added.
| Partner | Role in Partnership | Target Region |
|---|---|---|
| Mati Carbon | Protocol execution and enhanced rock weathering deployment | Global / Africa |
| IITA | Field trial management and agronomic research | Kenya and Nigeria |
| CGIAR Sustainable Farming Program | Advisory service integration and extension | 20+ Countries |
The memorandum of understanding covers ongoing data sharing, joint analysis, scientific publication, capacity building with national research institutions, and joint fundraising over the next five years.
