Regenerative Agriculture: Pathway To Soil Health Restoration And Climate Protection
Capital Digital Media
2023.05.26
Smallholder farmers in Africa are facing significant challenges due to climate change and land degradation, which are negatively impacting crop production and supply chains. However, regenerative agriculture has emerged as an effective solution to combat these issues and restore soil health. By implementing farming practices such as organic farming, cover cropping, mulching, minimum tillage, micro-dosing, and an inter-cropping system of maize and high-yielding, nitrogen-fixing climbing beans, alongside agroforestry crops, smallholder farmers can improve soil fertility and restore land.
In Kenya, at least 1% of smallholder farmers have already adopted regenerative agricultural practices to mitigate the impacts of climatic shocks. Biodigesters have emerged as a particularly popular solution, with at least 20,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya using the technology to produce biogas and biofertilizer simultaneously. Previously, biodigesters were considered a luxury item only accessible to wealthy farmers with large tracts of land and numerous animals. However, companies such as Sistema.bio are now developing technologies that cater to the needs of smallholder farmers. They have further managed to subsidize their biodigesters for less than one dollar a day with impact financing.
Smallholder farmers in Africa are facing significant challenges due to climate change and land degradation, which are negatively impacting crop production and supply chains. However, regenerative agriculture has emerged as an effective solution to combat these issues and restore soil health. By implementing farming practices such as organic farming, cover cropping, mulching, minimum tillage, micro-dosing, and an inter-cropping system of maize and high-yielding, nitrogen-fixing climbing beans, alongside agroforestry crops, smallholder farmers can improve soil fertility and restore land.
In Kenya, at least 1% of smallholder farmers have already adopted regenerative agricultural practices to mitigate the impacts of climatic shocks. Biodigesters have emerged as a particularly popular solution, with at least 20,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya using the technology to produce biogas and biofertilizer simultaneously. Previously, biodigesters were considered a luxury item only accessible to wealthy farmers with large tracts of land and numerous animals. However, companies such as Sistema.bio are now developing technologies that cater to the needs of smallholder farmers. They have further managed to subsidize their biodigesters for less than one dollar a day with impact financing.
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