Lack of access to food and its availability is of central concern in Africa and a fundamental challenge for human welfare and economic growth. Low agricultural production results in low incomes, poor nutrition, vulnerability to risks and lack of empowerment. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) targets an average annual increase of 6% in agricultural productivity to ensure food security and sustained national economies. Land degradation and soil fertility or nutrient depletion are considered as the major threats to food security and natural resource conservation in the semi arid tropics (SAT). What is needed is to break the cycle between poverty and land degradation in Africa by employing strategies that empower farmers economically and promoting sustainable agricultural intensification using efficient, effective and affordable agricultural technologies. Such affordable management systems should be accessible to the poor, small-scale producers and the approach should be holistic and dynamic in order to foster both technical and institutional change. This paper aims to increase the dissemination of our knowledge base on soils and its management in Zambia. This includes issues of soil conservation and conservation farming. The main activities being to: inventories available technologies for alleviating land degradation and how to demonstrate and adapt the best-bets in farmers’ circumstances using farmer participatory approaches; scale up best bet technologies for sustainable land management and marketing options through the use of appropriate tools, methods and strategies; and to study the resulting ecological resilience under variable environmental conditions.