Stable Foods, Homa Bay, Kenya

Smallholders constitute most of the food production in Africa. Still, they are trapped in a negative cycle, vulnerable to adverse weather events and climate change, and lacking capital to invest in the productivity of their land. They have limited bargaining power with and access to off-takers. To increase their subsistence income, they often cut down trees to open up more land, resulting in high food prices and deforestation.

Stable Foods unlocks smallholders’ potential at scale to produce affordable food for a growing population. To increase yields, Stable Foods offers smallholders an ultra-low-cost, climate-resilient Irrigation-as-a-Service-subscription. Stable Foods have requested reNature’s assistance in implementing regenerative agriculture by first setting up a Model Farm on their own leased land before scaling the approach within their farmer network.

Few farmers have access to costly irrigation services.

As well as high levels of deforestation and vulnerability to climate shocks, the community is over-reliant on harsh chemical additives, which has led to soil depletion. Additionally, under-investment in the region has led to an overall low production yield. Only about 3% of smallholder farmers in Kenya have access to irrigation services because they are prohibitively expensive. This is the foundation of the challenge: despite millions of people working in the agricultural sector, production costs are incredibly high, so the average consumer spends an inordinate amount of money on produce.

Irrigation as a subscription

Stable Foods is offering a revolutionary approach to irrigation that could improve yields for smallholder farmers by five to 10 times. This irrigation as a subscription service will be available at no up-front cost and only a small monthly fee, making it accessible to millions who could never before afford it. With the help of reNature, Stable Foods will bring regenerative agriculture to these farmers. The collaboration will begin with one Model Farm established on a plot leased by Stable Foods. This plot will serve as a proof of concept and demonstrate the efficacy of regenerative agriculture to the community. In subsequent phases of the project, additional Model Farms will be set up on the plots of community members, or so-called ‘lead farmers.’

The project will bring regenerative agricultural practices to the mass market of smallholder farms in Kenya. We see regenerative agriculture as necessary to achieve our two main focus area goals: 

• reducing food insecurity;
• increasing climate resilience.

The project will not only provide proof of the efficacy of regenerative agriculture through the implementation of the Model Farm, but it will also provide people with more healthy food at a lower cost. These two elements, coupled together, will combine to create a powerful inspirational force that will encourage the community to become involved. 

Stopping land degradation

Smallholders are vulnerable to adverse weather events and climate change. With each passing year, their land is continuously degraded. Stopping the degradation must be done using ecologically positive practices. This approach with reNature will reduce erosion, increase biodiversity, reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers, and reduce heavy machinery-based tilling. Via Stable Foods improved go-to-market logistics, this will reduce post-harvest loss, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Focus impact

• Increase the yield of the smallholder partners
• Lower cost of produce
• Reduction of CO2 emissions associated with agriculture
• Reduction of land degradation