You are here: Home > What we do > Our work > Agriculture

Agriculture

Farm Africa supports smallholder farmers, farm workers and agro-pastoralists across eastern Africa to increase their productivity, household incomes and resilience to shocks.

We help rural communities growing crops such as coffee and oilseeds, managing fisheries and rearing livestock to increase the quality and quantity of what they produce and build their links to markets, while protecting the environment for years to come.

Building on over 35 years’ experience of supporting farmers in eastern Africa, Farm Africa helps smallholder farmers to:

  • Use market information to produce food that is in high demand.
  • Use climate information to adapt farming practices to climate extremes such as drought and flooding.
  • Access high-quality agricultural inputs, such as improved seeds, fertilizer, irrigation and animal feed, and gain access to the finance needed to buy them.
  • Learn by doing. We help farmers groups learn about good agricultural practices on demonstration plots managed by other farmers and Farmer Training Centres.
  • Boost productivity. The use of high-quality agricultural inputs, good agricultural practices and good animal husbandry means farmers can increase the volumes of crop they produce per hectare and the productivity of their livestock.  
  • Reduce food loss. Storing produce in waterproof sacks in moisture-controlled warehouses, preserving produce like chillies using solar dryers and building links to markets are some of the ways farmers can reduce post-harvest losses, meaning higher incomes and a lower carbon footprint.
  • Improve marketing. Aggregating crops and selling them in bulk, or adding value to produce by processing and packaging it, such as producing oil from sunflower seeds or making butter from milk, are ways that farmers can attract buyers and secure higher prices.

The following short papers summarise Farm Africa's approach to:

This paper provides a concise overview of Farm Africa's approach to agriculture (784KB).

Crops

Crops

Eight out of ten rural Africans scrape their living from small plots. Soils are often poor, drought ever near.

Farm Africa brings in the smart crops, drought-busting techniques and marketing skills that make such tough farming viable, profitable and sustainable.

More about crops >
Livestock

Livestock

Where land is arid and crop cultivation hard, many farmers make their living by keeping animals.

Animals are generally the family’s most valuable possession and Farm Africa helps with basic animal health services.

More about livestock >
Fisheries

Fisheries

Pollution and overfishing have put wild fish stocks under pressure. The price of fish has rocketed, hitting people hard.

Farm Africa is pioneering fish farming in Kenya, which ensures sustainable protein supplies and a major new source of income.

More about fisheries >
Climate Resilience

Climate Resilience

If the current consumption of fossil fuels continues, rising global temperatures could have a devastating impact on farmers' livelihoods.

Farm Africa helps smallholders to farm in ways which don't damage the environment, and to build resilience to future climate shocks.

More about climate resilience >