Posted on May, 8, 2023 at 10:16 pm
Regenerative agriculture is a common term among farmers in the global north today. A wide range of investors, corporations and innovations are all vying to play a role in the transition of the world’s acres to a method of farming that’s mooted to be able to improve soil health, increase yields long term, reverse desertification, protect biodiversity, sequester carbon and otherwise reduce the negative externalities of conventional, synthetic and chemical input-based agriculture.
In the global south, where farmers have not had the same access to high quality, and potentially damaging, fertilizers and pesticides, the regenerative agriculture movement has been slower. It’s also likely that in the absence of these inputs, several farmers may already be farming somewhat regeneratively, a farming approach and set of practices that indigenous populations have used across the globe for thousands of years.
In Africa, as farmers increasingly feel the adverse effects of climate change, exacerbating the low yields already associated with smallholder farming, organizations are starting to work with farmers to help them transition their farms and improve their livelihoods.
Dutch venture builder Enviu, which has operations in East Africa, is one such proponent of adapting regenerative agriculture practices in the region. For Enviu, regenerative agriculture includes helping farmers minimize their tillage as well as use of inorganic inputs, diversifying their crops, livestock integration to help with soil fertility, cover cropping and rain water harvesting mechanisms.
“The reason farmers have been having some of these production challenges is really around the effects of climate change and soil degradation. Compounded, that has meant that farmers are really sinking deeper and deeper into poverty,” Kenneth Kiunga, venture builder of the regenerative agriculture program at Enviu, tells AFN.
Enviu just released a report detailing the results of a survey it conducted with 50 Kenya farmers to get their take on the movement.
Data compiled in the report from The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shows a remarkable increase in yields in regions where regenerative agriculture projects have been ran.
Source: AG Funder News