ETHIO-SENSE: real-time soil Health, carbon and climate-smart crop monitoring for smallholder farming systems in Ethiopia

Agriculture in Ethiopia faces major challenges from declining soil fertility, land degradation, climate variability and reduced crop productivity. Smallholder farmers often lack access to timely information to support decisions on fertiliser use, water management and sustainable farming practices. Growing interest in regenerative agriculture and carbon sequestration is creating opportunities to improve food security and climate resilience. However, affordable and reliable methods for monitoring soil health and carbon dynamics remain limited. 

ETHIO-SENSE will address these challenges by adapting low-cost soil sensing and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification technologies currently being developed in Ghana. By integrating real-time sensor data, farmer-led soil-health assessments and digital decision-support tools, the project will support climate-smart agricultural management and lay foundations for future carbon-market participation. 

The successful PhD candidate will join an interdisciplinary team across the UK and Ethiopia to establish an integrated soil-health monitoring network in the Bilate Catchment near Hawassa, Ethiopia. 

Research activities will include  

• deploying and validating low-cost soil-health sensors across contrasting agroecological zones,  

• monitoring soil moisture, temperature, greenhouse-gas emissions, carbon fluxes and other soil-health indicators,  

• comparing sensor measurements with simple farmer-led assessments, 

• collecting field data on crop growth, management practices, yields and climate impacts, 

• developing an Ethiopia-specific MRV platform for monitoring soil carbon, productivity and environmental outcomes, and  

• building digital-twin models to predict yield responses, drought risk, carbon sequestration and climate adaptation outcomes. 

The student will receive training in soil science, environmental sensing technologies, carbon accounting, digital agriculture, spatial modelling, data science, MRV systems, stakeholder engagement and scientific communication. Opportunities through the SUSTAIN Doctoral Landscape Award will provide additional professional development, networking and interdisciplinary research experience. 

Please note that this project is not open to researchers from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, Sudan or Iran.