How to build a framework for soil health of cultivated land assessment and monitoring: Insights from the perspective of government assistance to smallholders

Smallholders are integral to agriculture in many developing countries, playing a key role in promoting agricultural sustainability. However, conventional frameworks for assessing cultivated land often overlook the behaviours and contributions of key stakeholders. Assessment and management approaches based on a single actor or perspective are insufficient to support the achievement of the food sustainable production. This study proposes a Cultivated Soil Health Assessment and Monitoring framework to improve the soil health of cultivated land for smallholders. Unlike traditional methods, the framework integrates natural and anthropogenic factors from a multi-stakeholder perspective, including smallholders, policymakers, and agricultural experts. It links assessment outcomes to these actors and tailored pathways for improving the soil health of cultivated land, thereby proposing a more specialised and actionable process. The framework was applied in Shijiazhuang, China, a region characterised by fragmented land and a predominance of smallholders. Based on the material and energy flows within the cultivated land system, this study assessed cultivated land soil health across 218,708 plots by integrating the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method with emergy analysis. Plots with the poorest soil health conditions were classified into seven governance zones, each corresponding to different combinations of three actors and supported by targeted interventions, such as technical training, infrastructure investment, and policy incentives. Subsequently, satellite-based remote sensing is recommended to monitor key indicators like soil organic carbon across large areas. This study introduces an analytical framework that embeds multi-stakeholder collaboration into cultivated land soil health assessment and governance, offering a practical progress for participatory land management in regions characterised by smallholder farming.