The description of water transport in soil at low water content proposed is based on the idea that liquid-gas phase change occurs with vapor diffusion in the gas phase. The phase change modelisation introduces a phenomenological coefficient characterized through an experimental investigation done on small-scale soil samples. Then, numerical simulations are compared to experimental drying kinetics carried out on macroscopic soil samples. Good agreement is obtained, what strengthen the hypothesis of transport in the gas phase associated with a non-equilibrium liquid-gas phase change.