Picture a farmer in Kenya sowing seeds of managu, an indigenous leafy green packed with nutrients her children need to thrive. Or a farmer in Rwanda planting cover crops to enrich her soil and protect against erosion. These small acts of resilience are happening against a backdrop of enormous challenges like degraded soils, and rising food insecurity.
Oliver Shibonje, a retired geography and music teacher from Kenya's Kakamega County, has traded in his chalk and classroom for the open fields, embracing full-time farming with a focus on maize, vegetables, and sugarcane.
Younger farmers like Asterie are inheriting the mantle of farming from their parents at a time of new challenges. It is crucial for them to acquire smart farming skills to ensure that they are still able to harvest well and support their families.
On most days, you will find Esther Wangari tending to her farm, located deep in the heart of Kirinyaga County, in Kenya’s central highlands. Bordering her maize and beans fields, Esther’s latest passion – tree planting – thrives. For this Kenyan smallholder farmer, her new venture is more than just about planting trees; it is also about her livelihood and securing her family’s future.
In Kenya and Burundi, farmers like Wycliffe Nzaga, Eunice Nguu, and Sylvie Nahimana have witnessed first-hand the detrimental effects of drastic changes on farming.
Discover how agroforestry - the practice of planting trees among crops - offers smallholder farmers like Baraka, Dunstan and Claudine a variety of benefits.
For Friday Ndashe, who manages a tree nursery close to Kabwe in Zambia, running a tree nursery is a “joyful endeavor” with many benefits - for him and his local community.
We are excited to announce the launch of One Acre Fund Re, a reinsurance facility that will safeguard smallholder farmers in the face of extreme weather events’ devastating impacts on crop yields.
Smallholder farmers are intimately connected with their soil, relying on it for strong harvests to feed their families and communities, and to earn an income. For this year’s World Soil Day, we’re highlighting how smallholder farmers in Tanzania are investing in their futures by taking part in our new soil testing and training offering.
In just the first season farming with One Acre Fund, Claudine Ayinkamiye, a 30-year-old farmer from Rwanda, managed to produce 900 kilos of potatoes and maize. Thanks to this surplus, she was able to invest in different crops and trees, making her better equipped to withstand erratic weather.
Meet Angelus Mwapinga, a 50-year-old farmer from Tanzania. Determined to send his seven children to school, he leveraged credit from One Acre Fund to buy high quality farming inputs leading to a 20% increase in his harvest. His success means that he has been able to expand his farm, now growing potatoes and fruit tree seedlings. Diversification like this helps protect him against farming shocks.
Smallholder farmers are witnessing the devastating impacts of the climate crisis on their crops, harvests, diets, and families. This is not a hypothetical future risk; it is a reality they are facing today.
Trina Mwiinga grows trees on her farm in Zambia with One Acre Fund. In addition to the benefits trees provide - boosting her crop harves and providing shade for her animals from extreme heat - she is paid to look after them by One Acre Fund.
Fifty-two-year-old One Acre Fund field officer Alphonsine Nyiransabimana dreams of a thriving agricultural industry in Rwanda, where farmers can earn a decent living. She is working to fulfill this mission by helping farmers in her local community access credit and quality seeds so that they can increase their harvests and adapt to extreme weather.
In 2022, One Acre Fund Rwanda launched a program to distribute high-yielding, disease-resistant potato seed to the country’s smallholders to improve harvests and incomes.
A look at how we equip farmers for greater climate resilience.
This Earth Day - a day dedicated to raising awareness of the challenges our Earth faces and galvanizing action to protect it - we’re highlighting how smallholder farming communities are being affected by climate change.
Earlier this week, southern Malawi was devastated by Cyclone Freddy, the longest and most energetic tropical storm ever recorded.
Farming insurance is an emerging tool in climate risk management that can help ensure smallholders are able to plant again the following season even if crops fail in the current one, and encourage them to take risks to invest more in their farms even when the climate is so unpredictable.
Enabling farmers to adopt climate-smart approaches to farming helps build more sustainable food systems that protect the environment, improve smallholder livelihoods, and create new business opportunities. This is critically important as the world grapples with the combined challenges of climate change and economic crisis.
We’re launching a 10-year climate strategy committed to building the resilience of smallholder farmers in the face of a changing climate.
Only by equipping smallholder farmers with the tools they need to withstand the impacts of climate change can we achieve sustainable and equitable food systems.
The climate footprint of the average smallholder farmer is minimal, yet they are among the worst impacted by a changing climate.
East Africa has seen several weather pattern changes in the recent past. Here, we share climate-smart agriculture tips to help farmers in the region cope better with unpredictable weather.
