Country: Kenya

Across Kenya’s drylands, the story of farming has too often been one of extraction—degraded soils, erratic rains, and rising costs from chemical fertilizers and pesticides. But in Makueni County, a quiet agricultural revolution is unfolding. The RegenerAgri Initiative, by Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT), a Pan-African organization established in 2009, says it has proved that regeneration, not depletion, can define the future of Africa’s food systems.

At its heart, RegenerAgri is about empowering smallholder farmers to rebuild the ecological foundations of farming (soil, water, and biodiversity) through a hands-on “Transition Pathway” model. This model walks farmers step-by-step from awareness to full adoption of regenerative practices such as leguminous cover cropping, bokashi composting, agroforestry, and natural pest management. The aim is to replace synthetic, extractive agriculture with systems that actively restore ecosystem health while improving livelihoods of farmers.

*_{Farmers’ training on preparation of Bokashi, an organic fertilizer used for soil amendment.}*

In one year, according to the initiative, 122 farmers regenerate over 300 acres of land on average, improving soil structure, crop diversity, and resilience to drought. In its first year of implementation, over 70% of participating farms reported major improvements in soil health, while 73% adopted composting and 72% began using natural pest control. Biodiversity has returned to once-degraded plots, and many farms now thrive even during prolonged dry spells.

RegenerAgri’s success rests on a deeply participatory, farmer-led model. Local model farmers known as The Organic Farmer Ambassadors (TOFAs) serve as peer educators and role models for other farmers, blending traditional wisdom with modern regenerative science. Their leadership has spurred rapid knowledge diffusion, extending even to unconventional settings such as Makueni Prison, where inmates are rehabilitated through hands-on agroecology training. They also partner with entities ranging from international organizations such as the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) to local seed producers and media houses in building markets and policy frameworks that sustain agroecological transformation. The initiative states it has directly influenced Makueni County’s new Agroecology Policy, setting a precedent for institutionalizing regenerative agriculture at the county level.

The impact is also felt socially: according to the initiative, 75% of participants are women, many of whom now lead peer groups and sell produce in village markets established by the project. Reduced input costs, improved yields, and diversified diets have strengthened both household economies and community health.

*Farmer harvesting vegetables from portable gardens.*

RegenerAgri is more than a project—it’s a living blueprint for Africa’s regenerative future. Its low-cost, adaptable, and community-driven design makes it scalable across Kenya and beyond. With additional support, the initiative aims to reach 10,000 farmers and restore 20,000 acres of land over the next decade, transforming degraded landscapes into thriving, biodiverse ecosystems. By rooting science in community, and regeneration in practice, RegenerAgri is demonstrating that Africa’s smallholders are not just victims of climate change—they are the architects of a climate-resilient, farmer-led food future.

Learn more about RegenerAgri Initiative.

Written by Sarah Souli
Photos provided by RegenerAgri

Country: Kenya

Across the African continent, 33 million smallholder farmers produce the majority of the region’s food—yet many live on less than $1.50 a day, with limited access to markets, information, or cold storage. Their soils, long strained by extractive farming and chemical dependence, are losing fertility, while climate change tightens its grip. But a quiet transformation blending entrepreneurship with ecology is taking root.

Enviu Agrifood is reimagining the continent’s food systems as regenerative, inclusive, and climate-resilient ecosystems. Launched in 2020 by the Dutch impact venture-building company Enviu, the organization is creating a new generation of investible, self-sustaining ventures that work for both people and the planet. Their mission is to replace extractive food systems with circular, regenerative ones that ensure prosperity for farmers while healing the Earth.

Enviu’s approach is rooted in systems thinking and social entrepreneurship. Rather than treating symptoms like food waste or low yields in isolation, they build interconnected ventures that tackle multiple pressure points simultaneously. Over the past five years, Enviu has developed four complementary businesses across Kenya and East Africa that together form a living blueprint for systemic food transformation.

*_{Florence Mwakavi, a farmer in Ukia, Makueni County, Kenya, is standing on her regenerative farm, holding peas she harvested from her land.}*

The first two, Sokofresh and Shambani Pro, target the problem of post-harvest food loss, which accounts for nearly 40% of all produce that does not get consumed. Sokofresh provides solar-powered cold storage and digital market access directly to farmers, guaranteeing offtake and income stability. Shambani Pro turns unsold or imperfect produce into high-value processed goods, building rural value chains where waste becomes an opportunity. According to the organization, they’ve already served over 20,000 farmers, prevented more than 5.8 million kilograms of food loss, and mitigated 224 metric tons of CO₂ emissions.

The next phase of Enviu’s work is turning farming itself from extractive to regenerative. Their ventures Halisigro and Zawiri Foods make regenerative agriculture financially attractive for smallholder farmers. Halisigro equips and trains farmers to restore soil health through intercropping, composting, and agroforestry, while Zawiri Foods connects them to premium buyers of regenerative produce, ensuring profitability within just one year of transition. Already, over 1,000 farmers have adopted regenerative practices through Enviu’s programs, revitalizing 300 acres of farmland.

_{Belice Kimanthi, a farmer in Kee, Makueni county, Kenya, is pictured with her papaya trees. She has adopted regenerative agriculture techniques to improve her yields while farming in semi-arid conditions.}

According to the organization, incomes have gone up by 20–300%, biodiversity is returning, and young people and women are finding renewed purpose in agriculture. About 70% of participating farmers are women, many of whom are now leading local training groups and cooperative enterprises. Enviu’s ventures are designed to be commercially viable within two to three years, ensuring long-term sustainability without dependence on aid.

*_{A swale built to capture and retain water, a key feature in regenerative agriculture, makes the farm productive all year round.}*

Enviu Agrifood offers more than ventures—it offers a vision. A vision where food systems nourish people and planet alike, where farmers are entrepreneurs of regeneration, and where markets reward sustainability. Enviu is proving that the future of food can be both profitable and good for the planet, rooted in resilience, powered by people, and grown in harmony with nature.

Learn more about Enviu Agrifood.

Written by Sarah Souli
Photos provided by Enviu Agrifood

Country: Kenya

Traditional skills meet frontier tech as a Global Cooperative, powered by Croppie, puts data, technology, and decision-making back into the hands of farmers.

In an era of growing climate challenges and food insecurity, digital platforms are proving to be a useful means of advising farmers on solutions about weather, waste, finances, and farming models as scientists and activists call for a reform of the global food system.

Now smallholders, one of the global communities often most vulnerable to climate change, could become the game-changers as technology captures their ancestral farming skills.

Producing roughly a third of the world’s food, these farmers—who are among the most experienced stewards of the land—have been largely excluded from the sourcing of data for the digital platforms which provide them with timely agronomic advice, financial services, and digital training.

*_{A Producers Direct agent supports a female farmer from northern Peru as she learns to use Croppie.}*

Croppie, a new digital platform from Producers Direct, which has a mission to build farmer-led solutions that enable smallholder farmers in Latin America and East Africa to thrive, claims to harness this farmer-powered data in a digital ecosystem. Mixing their age-old wisdom with cutting-edge tech such as AI, satellite imagery, and predictive analytics, farmers worldwide can use it to turn their farms into sustainable, climate-resilient businesses.

By providing real-time, personalized advice to farmers, Croppie aims to address some of the most pressing environmental challenges in modern agriculture. It helps farmers make informed decisions that respect their land, traditions, and ecosystems, by delivering advanced climate-smart advice through lo-fi channels like WhatsApp and SMS. The goal is empowerment—facilitating better decision-making at the individual level while promoting collective action and knowledge exchange globally.

What sets Croppie apart is its fundamental principle that the platform is made by farmers for farmers, rebuilding and rebranding their collaborative experience as a hub of innovation, service delivery, and peer-to-peer learning. It integrates various data sources, aggregating information from certification records, cooperative records, farmer data, and third party data, establishing a versatile platform that adapts to farmers’ needs.

In what the initiative sees as a significant departure from traditional top-down technology models, Croppie empowers farmers by placing them at the center of innovation, participating in the design of tools, and developing tailored solutions that directly address their needs. By being co-creators of the data they generate, smallholders can transform into leaders within a decentralized food system.

Central to Croppie’s mission is minimizing agriculture’s impact on the environment. Using sophisticated analysis of satellite imagery, weather data, and on-farm specifics, Croppie helps farmers to refine or rethink their practices and avoid harming fragile ecosystems.

Its climate-smart guidance helps to reduce excessive use of water and fertilizers, for example, maintaining soil health and significantly cutting down agriculture’s environmental footprint. It helps to boost productivity through strategic planning, which reduces the need for land expansion, curbing emissions and safeguarding essential carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots.

Producers Direct’s approach highlights a new paradigm in agriculture, the power of smallholder farmers to become pivotal agents of change in the global food system.

As smallholders find greater control over both their methodologies and data, the ripple effects could transform their communities significantly, setting new standards for resilience and sustainability.

Learn more about Croppie.

Written by Gilly Smith
Photos provided by the Croppie

Country: Kenya

Every year, nearly half of all global crop production (43%) is lost to pests and diseases. The damage amounts to more than USD $220 billion in losses annually. Across the African continent, these threats are even higher, destroying up to 47% of total harvests. The result: deepened poverty, hunger, and escalating greenhouse gas emissions from overuse of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

In Kenya, one startup believes it has found a breakthrough solution. Farmer Lifeline, founded in 2022, has developed what it calls the world’s first solar-powered autonomous agricultural AI-robot, designed to serve as an “always-on farm doctor.” Permanently installed in farmers’ fields, each device uses AI-camera scanners and environmental sensors to continuously monitor crops, detecting the earliest signs of pest infestation or disease within seconds. Once a threat is identified, farmers receive SMS alerts with simple, actionable recommendations for environmentally-friendly fertilizers or pesticides.

^{A farmer receives an SMS from the solar-powered crop pests and pathogens detection device installed in her farm (visible in the background).}

The result is precision farming accessible even to smallholder farmers earning less than $5 a day. At a cost of just $3 per month, each device covers roughly one acre and serves between three to five farmers. According to the initiative, Farmer Lifeline’s system has so far detected over 1.7 million pest and disease instances, helping 53,970 small-scale farmers in Kenya save over 90% of the technology users have reported a 45% reduction in crop losses and a 30% increase in harvest yields.

^{Farmer Lifeline CEO and founder Esther Wanjiru speaks with Marion Nyawira Mburu´ at her farm in Nairobi, Kenya.}

The impact goes beyond productivity. By guiding farmers toward low-emission agriculture, the initiative claims it has reduced 111,000 metric tons of CO₂. Through precision input use, fertilizer consumption has fallen by 35% and pesticide use by 40%, restoring 37,807 acres of degraded farmland and protecting local water systems and biodiversity. Farmer Lifeline’s innovation is also reshaping rural gender dynamics; the company trains and employs women from marginalized communities to distribute and maintain the AI-devices. According to the initiative, 141 women have been trained to date, with plans to reach 1,450 within three years.

At the heart of Farmer Lifeline’s model is a simple but radical idea: that climate-resilient, data-driven agriculture should be accessible to everyone. Backed by five Kenyan patents and a global inventors’ patent, the technology integrates with early-warning satellite systems and global pest databases, enabling deployment anywhere in the world.

By 2030, Farmer Lifeline aims to reach 1 million smallholder farmers in Kenya and 30 million globally, preventing over $10 million in crop losses while empowering farmers as the first line of defense against hunger and climate change.

Learn more about Farmer Lifeline.

Written by Sarah Souli
Photos provided by Farmer Lifeline

Country: Kenya

All around us, people go hungry. Not necessarily in the obvious way of lacking food, but rather, in lacking nutrients that come from good food. More than 2 billion people subsist on low-cost foods that don’t provide enough nutrition to prevent disease, or to adequately grow and develop as children. Around the world, highly processed, chemically grown, low-nutrient foods are usually the cheapest calories for families living below the poverty line. Caloric needs are met, but at the cost of serious micronutrient deficiencies.

Thrive for Good is on a mission to end this epidemic of hidden hunger by helping people help themselves. If a family can’t afford nutritious foods, what’s to stop them from growing it themselves? Well – initial startup money, training, tools and seeds. Thrive for Good provides training, simple tools, and starter seeds for only $15 per person, and encourages people to grow their own food. They call these Life Gardens, and while they certainly work in rural settings where available land is often underutilized, the initiative states they are just as successful in urban areas and food deserts. Life Gardens are adaptable, and can work as vertical gardens and community garden projects. The gardens grow foods that are precisely chosen for their ability to build immunity, support child development, and prevent long-term illness.

Thrive for Good has successful projects in over 20 countries and they envision operating in over 50 countries within the next decade. The initiative claims to be versatile and able to be implemented in various geographical settings, including tropical, temperate, and arid climates. Their techniques include water conservation practices such as rainwater harvesting and efficient irrigation, making them suitable for arid and semi-arid regions. According to the initiative, Life Gardens maximize land and water use, and create a “closed loop” by harvesting seeds and turning plant waste into compost to regenerate the soil. Thrive for Good claims the organic gardens are scalable and adaptable, and regenerative – enriching the soil, preventing erosion, contributing to biodiversity and capturing more carbon. Importantly, Life Gardens are sustainable and give people a sense of agency and community connection, building local skills, knowledge, and prosperity between people.

Currently, Thrive is registered in Canada, United States, Kenya, South Africa and Eswatini. According to the initiative, they are currently working with close to 300,000 people to grow their own food, and the last 3 years, the number of people impacted has grown by more than 65% each year. With the funding to keep growing by even 50% per year, by the end of 2033, they will have 90,000 garden projects feeding more than 10 million people. They claim this impact can materialize on only 23,000 acres of land, about half the size of Stockholm.

As the old saying goes, if you give a man a fish, he’ll have enough to eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll have enough to eat forever. Thrive for Good is on a mission to help people have enough to eat for a lifetime.

Learn more about Thrive for Good.

Written by Sarah Souli
Photos provided by Thrive for Good

Country: Kenya

A perennial crop resilient to the challenges of climate change could reshape the food system across Africa.

The Ethiopian orphan crop Enset is being cultivated as a climate-smart, zero-waste food source, according to Alabaster International’s Enset Food Security Initiative. The organization claims that it, together with its partners, can develop climate-adaptive and genetically varied Enset crops for underserved and drought-stricken areas in Ethiopia and the wider African region, enhancing biodiversity in local farms and creating a more resilient food system.

Ensete ventricosum, known also as Enset or “the tree against hunger,” is native to Ethiopia and primarily grown and eaten in the southern regions where it is farmed largely by women. The plantain-style plant supports nearly 20 million people in the country, but remains underutilized as a broader food security resource in the region.

Now, Alabaster and its partners collaborating in Ethiopia and Kenya say that they have developed the first-ever Enset tissue culture protocol outside of Ethiopia for specific wild and cultivated Enset landraces. This scientific breakthrough will enable diverse, disease-resistant, drought-tolerant, and nutrition-rich Enset strains to be further developed and grown in various climates and temperatures.

_{Women in Gamo Highlands, Ethiopia, utilizing new mechanized Enset processing equipment}

The resulting seedlings will be distributed to farmers for cultivation as Alabaster International aims to improve Enset’s accessibility to smallholder farmers, particularly female farmers, reframing it as a sustainable food solution in the face of increasing food insecurity caused by climate change.

Alabaster and its partner, Arba Minch University in Ethiopia, now plan to promote Enset cultivation in new locales, with community-based Enset processing centers using new mechanized technology. This cutting-edge technology is intended to ease the labor-intensive process of harvesting and processing Enset, lightening the workload particularly for women who typically handle the processing manually.

The impact could be huge on communities across Africa, not just as a source of nutrition in disadvantaged communities, but as a valuable contribution to gender equity in these areas. Alabaster International’s Enset Community Ambassadors, in partnership with Girl Child Network and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, will conduct educational workshops on Enset nutrition and consumption, with a focus on remote, female-led households. These programs will lay the groundwork for women-run Enset cooperatives, empowering women by turning processed Enset fiber into unique market products for local and international trade.

The project includes creating a compendium of indigenous knowledge on Enset farming practices in the first-ever Enset mobile app in partnership with Deep Impact AI. The aim is to help scale production of this superfood across Ethiopia and the wider African region, with open access to the project’s research, insights on Enset’s impact on intercropping, livestock health, and nutritional biomarkers. The app intends to help farmers understand how to work with weather patterns and increase soil health to maximize successful Enset cultivation and harvesting, while promoting regenerative farming techniques more broadly. The app will also house a carbon sequestration algorithm and calculation to estimate Enset cultivation’s impact on carbon emissions and environmental resilience.

Ultimately, Alabaster International’s Enset Food Security Initiative states they are building a self-sustaining ecosystem centered on Enset—an indigenous African crop—demonstrating how traditional, farmer-centered resources can effectively address chronic hunger. This model strengthens local food security and provides a blueprint for incorporating other indigenous crops across the continent, fueling our collective fight against global hunger.

Learn more about the Enset Food Security Initiative.

Written by Gilly Smith
Photos provided by Enset Food Security Initiative

Country: Kenya

A young bioscience non-profit says that its new fermentation technology could bend the arc on malnutrition among some of Africa’s most vulnerable communities by converting agricultural by-product into protein as affordable as soy.

Essential, which is based in Kenya, believes its cutting-edge advances in fermentation technology could transform the food system in Africa.

_{Essential’s team includes expertise in fermentation, biomanufacturing, strategy, and product.}

The organization’s goal is to produce affordable, high-quality proteins that withstand climate challenges like extreme drought, and are integrated into products designed to combat malnutrition. Essential claims that fermentation is a super-process in this part of the world: its remarkable ability to continuously produce protein regardless of climate conditions is a crucial advantage given the frequent climatic disruptions that devastate crops and livestock.

Essential’s fermentation technology could provide a beacon of hope in an undernourished area with a growing population. This is where the interconnected crises of malnutrition, food system inefficiencies and climate change pose some of the most urgent challenges of the 21^st century. A lack of affordable, high-quality proteins in Sub-Saharan Africa means that around 1 billion people do not have sufficient protein in their diets. Recent cross-country research reveals that 30-40% of stunting can be explained by a lack of high-quality protein.

_{Essential has launched one of the first biomanufacturing plants in Nairobi.}

Essential says that strong evidence-based research like theirs is vital in the race to produce resilient, cost-effective, and sustainable proteins as the challenges of extreme weather conditions associated with climate change hamper agricultural productivity and nutritional content. Although fermentation has ancient roots, alternative proteins have generated scientific momentum in affluent nations in the past decades.

Now Essential says that its core technologies of fermentation and biomanufacturing offer a unique edge in combating malnutrition. The initiative envisions itself as the pioneering force advancing this scientific realm in Sub-Saharan Africa and plans to collaborate with governments, multilateral agencies, and development finance organizations to promote biomanufacturing as a climate adaptation strategy to enhance food security and address malnutrition.

Learn more about Essential.

Written by Gilly Smith
Images provided by Essential

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