Regenerative agriculture

Farm Africa is helping to increase the production, incomes and climate resilience of 60,000 farmers in Embu and Tharaka Nithi in Kenya by training 50 farmer groups, each with 200 members, in regenerative agriculture.

A key feature of the project is training 250 village-based advisors (VBAs) in regenerative agriculture techniques, who then share the knowledge with more farmers across the counties to support them to grow more fruit and vegetables at home for their families. The training covers post-harvest handling, storage, kitchen garden establishment and agribusiness acumen.

The project also builds the capacity of local and national governments in developing policies on the promotion of regenerative agriculture. We will influence research institutions to adopt regenerative agriculture best practices, as well as input distributors at a commercial level.

In addition, the project features the Acorn initiative in collaboration with Rabobank, which supports farmers to grow trees on their farms and then monetise the carbon stored in these trees by trading Carbon Removal Units (CRUs). The Acorn initiative creates a transparent marketplace for carbon sequestration and gives farmers the chance to sustainably manage forest ecosystems and biodiversity, and improve soil health.

The project is funded by the IKEA Foundation through AGRA.

Other collaborative institutions include County Governments of Embu and Tharaka-Nithi, KALRO, CROPNUT, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Rabobank, tertiary institutions, aggregators, digital technology providers, financial services providers, seed companies and markets.