Kenya - Farm Africa

Farm Africa is an NGO specializing in growing agriculture, protecting the environment, and developing businesses in rural Africa. Located in Embu and Tharaka Nithi County, this project aims to incentivize regenerative agriculture project farmers to adopt an agroforestry system in Eastern Kenya. Farmers’ needs and baselines were assessed in September 2020 through in-person farmer interviews. During these assessments and meetings, farmers raised the issue of needing income diversification and a financial incentive for planting trees. Farm Africa subsequently investigated and sought out carbon finance with Acorn.

• Project summary ADD PDF (version September 2023)

The project area suffers frequent droughts which severely reduce per capita food production. An estimated 12 million people (UNEP 2009) of the country’s population depend directly on land, and as the population continues to grow, resources are expected to become increasingly degraded unless urgent measures are taken.

One such measure is agroforestry. Agroforestry designs incorporating trees producing macadamia nuts, citrus, mangoes, and avocado fruits would provide a reliable source of vitamins on a household level for smallholder farmers, with the surplus sold at local markets and other towns in the project area. The additional income generated this way can then be used for nutritious food.

Financially, farmers are set to benefit from this project through income-generating activities including fruit trees and agroforestry nurseries and the sale of surplus mature fruits. Farmers will establish tree nurseries (one nursery shared per ward level) and sell tree seedlings to farmers in the areas. Farmers will also earn extra income from the sale of honey and other bee products promoted in this project. Finally, farmers will also earn carbon credits through carbon trading since the trees provide carbon sinks.

Many indigenous species, products of the long-term evolution of the ecosystem, do not tolerate heavy land use by farmers, grazers, and settlers. Indigenous plant species are on the decline while exotic and common species are on the increase. This means that availability of wild resources that people value, like food plants, medicinal plants, and other traditional plant resources, is declining. This project aims to strengthen local and indigenous biodiversity, for example by planting flowering trees that flower at different seasons of the year, to attract pollinators such as bees. The farmers will set up beehives on the farms to house said bees, also gaining access to honey as a food and revenue stream.

The carbon credits farmers receive for the trees planted as part of the project are ex-post based. They will only be derived from one year before CRU issuance.

Full project documentation available upon request.