Our programmes

This project aims to sustainably increase the incomes of 60,000 smallholder farmers in the Dodoma and Singida regions of Tanzania by 2025, of whom half are women and over 28,000 are young people. Farm Africa will implement measures to increase food productivity, reduce post-harvest losses and build a well-functioning market system, focusing on the sunflower, sorghum and horticulture value chains.

Farmers, particularly women and young people, will access improved agricultural production techniques, seed varieties, and climate technologies for their crops. Improved post-harvest techniques and value-addition will be promoted, which will also help create job opportunities.

Young people will be offered training in financial literacy and entrepreneurial, leadership and management skills. Farm Africa will also help women and young people apply for grants and loans to grow their businesses.

Farmer service centres (FSCs) are critical central hubs in agribusiness. They address last mile/first mile inefficiencies and logistical issues and provide farmers with access to necessary services that increase productivity. These include farm inputs like seeds, fertilisers, mechanisation, agricultural extension services and finance. They provide an aggregation point for farmers’ produce; connecting farmers to buyers and providing market partners with quality and quantity assurance.

This project aimed to increase income and job opportunities in the Longido district in Tanzania’s Arusha region. Through sustainable horticulture production and other relevant livelihood activities, women and young people, who live in severe poverty and face the worst effects of drought, benefitted from meaningful employment.

Farm Africa supported communities at a local level and jump-started economic activity to ensure farmers could generate income to sustain themselves. With a holistic approach, we built farmers’ capacities in addressing climate change challenges and improved their food security. We made use of the existing farming community and irrigation schemes and promoted climate-smart agriculture practices and value addition activities to provide affordable food for domestic and export markets. Apart from introducing farmers to relevant market information on horticulture crops, smallholder farmers were also trained on climate-smart agricultural technologies and products.

This project also focused on increasing knowledge on gender equality, improving local institutional capacity on gender inclusivity and promoting the participation of women and young people in sustainable economic activities. When implementing these activities, Farm Africa involved village, ward and district extension agents who continued the advisory role after the project ended. This participatory method of involving all relevant actors ensures the project’s activities are sustainable long-term.

Farm Africa and the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) are addressing the challenges faced by small businesses in Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee camps in northern Kenya, where the arid environment makes agricultural production difficult, the local population has effectively prohibited refugees from keeping livestock and there is poor access to markets and minimal employment opportunities. The project’s main focus is to stimulate innovation and strengthen economic opportunities for refugee and host community entrepreneurs.​

The project is providing financing and business development services to micro and small enterprises (MSEs), including tailored mentorship, ensuring they gain the expertise and financial support they need to generate both revenue and local jobs.

Our Participatory Forest Management project (PFM) aimed to improve forest conservation in two communities, Harena Buluk and Dello Mena woredas, in Ethiopia that have experienced high population growth.

We supported forest community-based organisations (CBOs) to produce and sell more high-quality coffee, improve livestock productivity in a sustainable way and generate knowledge that could guide further livelihood and conservation activity.

Building on past interventions in Ethiopia, the project provided training in forest-friendly farming techniques, fodder production, business skills, biodiversity monitoring and biogas technology to over 1,900 people, who went on to train and assist at least 5,300 more people.

Farm Africa, along with nine partners, is implementing the four-year Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable and Inclusive Development (NSSID) programme in Ethiopia to reduce poverty, build communities’ resilience to climate change and protect the environment.

This programme aims to help 130,450 smallholder wheat farmers in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia, overcome challenges that are undermining their livelihoods. We’re working together to improve access to advisory services and supplies, improve crop productivity and grain storage methods and increase opportunities to share knowledge. Along the way, we’re aiming to improve opportunities for women and young people, from providing technical training to improving access to finance to creating job and entrepreneurial business opportunities.

Key activities include rolling out training on climate-smart methods for wheat production, modernising post-harvest and storage technologies, supporting local women to start their own agricultural supply and advisory businesses, and supporting women to establish and effectively run their own village savings and loan associations.

The 20-month programme, which launched in October 2024, is funded by AGRA. It draws experience from Farm Africa’s successful regenerative agriculture work in Embu, Kenya, also funded by AGRA.

The Youth empowerment project (YEP) aims to improve employment opportunities and income for 500 young people in southwestern Uganda by increasing productivity along the coffee, honey, poultry and horticulture value chains.

We’re fuelling productivity by setting up value addition and business incubation centres through Youth Innovation Hubs Africa to help young people launch business ventures along these value chains.

To ensure these young entrepreneurs receive the support they need to become self-sustaining, we’re also training 50 women and young people to become self-employed local business agents who can offer technical advice on selected enterprises, run training workshops and help facilitate access to supplies, land and technology.

Rural women often have a deep understanding of local resource challenges, so there’s a lot to be gained from involving them more fully in natural resource decision-making. The gender transformation and climate resilience project aims to help rural communities in the Afar and Oromia Regional States of Ethiopia adapt to climate change by strengthening the role women can play in the management of natural resources for their communities.

The project aims to unlock that leadership potential by reshaping gender-biased social norms. On the ground, that means championing the inclusion of women within predominantly male organisations, such as farming or forest cooperatives, involving women in promoting climate-smart agriculture and sustainable enterprises, and creating opportunities for women and men to work side-by-side in addressing the development needs of their communities.

This work is being undertaken in partnership with the Union of Ethiopia Women and Children Association (UEWCA) and Population Health and the Environment Ethiopia Consortium (PHE-EC).

Farm Africa is implementing Forests for Sustainable Development, a four-year programme in the Oromia Regional State of  Ethiopia to build on the success of previous programmes in reducing deforestation, cutting carbon emissions, increasing the incomes of forest-dependent communities and addressing sustainability limitations.

The project will work to benefit both people and planet by developing sustainable livelihoods and reducing biodiversity loss, while also improving the resilience of the local community and improving governance for integrated landscape management.

The five-year NOURISH project aims to achieve resilient food security for smallholder farmer households in key regions of Tanzania. These are the central-northern zone (Singida, Dodoma, Manyara) which suffers from acute food insecurity, and Southern Highlands (Songwe, Rukwa) which faces chronic malnutrition.

NOURISH targets smallholder farmer food producers at greatest risk of food security, with emphasis on those with less than two hectares as well as other vulnerable groups. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and farm organisations will also benefit from the project.

In Uganda’s Karamoja region, Farm Africa is partnering with CARE International and local organisations to enhance climate resilience, food security and incomes of pastoralist communities, with a particular focus on women and young people. The project is transforming valley dam landscapes into sustainable, productive farmland for pastoralists, addressing the region’s critical water retention and agricultural needs amidst rising climate extremes.

The project supports groups of farmers, each guided by a trained Village Based-Advisor (VBA), in climate-smart agriculture, vegetable production and post-harvest handling of their crops. Demonstration gardens are established to grow high-value vegetables and leafy greens and show irrigation innovations that maximise water retention and access to water. Farmers also receive solar-powered irrigation kits, treadle pumps and seeds. As a result, farmers are now growing and eating a diverse range of crops year-round, improving their food security, incomes and nutrition.

As part of the project, farmers are linked to agro-input providers who supply high-quality seeds and agrochemicals, and are connected to buyers for their produce. This enables them to sell vegetables to neighbouring and local markets, restaurants and hotels. With more income, farmers can now buy more healthy food to add to their families’ diets.

With funding from AGRA, the Sustainable agricultural value chain enterprises in central Kenya (SAVES) project is creating sustainable and inclusive agricultural systems that increase food security, incomes and climate resilience for smallholder farmers and broader rural communities.

Working with farmers in Kenya’s Meru, Kirinyaga and Laikipia counties, we are building resilient agricultural systems resilient that are tailored to the local region. We are encouraging the use of nutritious, drought-tolerant crops, water-efficient agronomic practices and sustainable agriculture to help farmers stabilize their crop yields despite climate challenges.

We are promoting crops such as maize, beans and leafy vegetables, alongside offering support for improved seed production. We are delivering training to farmers in seed selection, management and multiplication, and the adoption of sustainable climate-resilient and locally adapted seeds. With better access to high-quality seeds, crop losses have reduced by 30%, enhancing farmers’ resilience to climate shocks.

Ethiopia’s Bale Eco-region is one of Africa’s most important biodiversity hotspots. However, increasing pressure from population growth and unsustainable land use is degrading the landscape, leading to deforestation, biodiversity loss and declining livelihoods for local communities.

To address these challenges, Farm Africa is supporting smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists in the Bale Eco-region to develop forest-friendly livelihoods such as sustainable coffee production, agroforestry and woodlot establishment. These efforts not only help rural communities to earn more money, but also reduce pressure on the surrounding forests.

Our work with smallholder farmers is focused on growing sustainable coffee gardens outside the forest. With support including seeds, tools and conservation techniques, farmers have established over 30,000 coffee seedlings outside forest boundaries and are starting to secure better prices for their improved coffee.

With funding from AGRA, Farm Africa is supporting smallholder farmers in eastern Uganda to adopt seed varieties for rice, beans and maize that are nutritious, in high demand and grow well in changing climates.

The project is driving demand for improved seeds by making them more affordable and increasing farmers’ access to and awareness of them. This helps to create a stronger, more resilient market for seeds, which can attract investment and consistently deliver high-quality seeds to farmers.

Farm Africa is training 100 village-based advisors, most of whom are women, and 30 district agricultural officers, to provide extension services to smallholder farmers. These services include climate-smart agriculture, gender training and digital tools such as mobile text messaging to provide advice and support. These services are supported by demonstration plots, where farmers can learn new techniques and see the benefits of improved seed varieties first-hand.

Forests in Ethiopia’s Bale Eco-region are under threat from deforestation and biodiversity loss due to agricultural expansion. This exacerbates the impacts of climate change and puts the livelihoods of rural communities at risk.

With funding from the UBS Optimus Foundation, Farm Africa is supporting pastoral communities in the Bale Eco-region to build stronger, more resilient futures. By equipping farmers with tools to withstand climate extremes and economic shocks and improving how the region’s forests, rangelands and water resources are managed, the project is helping both communities and nature to thrive.

We are training farmers and rural communities to restore and protect rangelands in the lowlands, which reduces their reliance on forests in the highlands for pasture and water for their livestock. This relief eases pressure on forests and promotes more sustainable livelihoods.

With funding from the Dutch Government, Farm Africa is working in partnership with CARE’s CASCADE programme to put women in eastern Uganda in the driving seat of improving the diets of their young children and themselves, even in the face of climate shocks.

In Uganda’s Karamoja sub-region, poverty and chronic malnutrition is widespread, particularly among women and children. Most families eat a limited diet of cereal grains and wild leaves, and there is low awareness about the importance of a balanced diet. These rural communities rely heavily on natural resources, which leaves them vulnerable to frequent climate extremes.

The project supports rural women in four districts (Moroto, Napak, Abim and Kotido) to grow a range of nutritious foods, learn about healthy eating and overcome cultural barriers holding them back.

The surging demand for fish in Kenya presents a promising opportunity for economic growth through the aquaculture and mariculture sectors. However, despite their potential, these sectors remain largely untapped by young men and women seeking employment and work opportunities.

Recognising this untapped potential, the Mastercard Foundation is joining forces with Farm Africa and partners to build thriving, dynamic aquaculture and mariculture sectors.