Earth as we know it is rapidly changing. A few years ago, it would have been regarded as wildly imaginative if you mentioned that droughts and floods are simultaneously devastating Africa. Yet climate change is a reality and the way food is produced influences it. As one researcher stated: Agricultural practices affect climate change, and they are simultaneously affected by climate change.

In order to produce enough food without destroying the environment, countries facing food insecurity must have suitable policy and technology that are affordable, meet food security objectives and provide smallholder farmers with a means to adapt to climate change. Farming alone is responsible for almost 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, research has shown. Cultivating vast tracks of land using heavy mechanisation and synthetic fertilisers to boost production.

Industrial agriculture comes at a price, as it creates ecological dead zones, release carbon from the soil, and disrupt natural ecosystems. Climate change causing droughts and floods in Africa is blamed for leaving millions of smallholder farmers on the continent hungrier and poorer than ever. Mostly, the climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is not even caused by these poor farmers trying to scrape a living from their meagre plots of land; it is caused by industrial agriculture giants in faraway countries these small farmers might not even have heard about.

In Africa, regenerative farming is a solution that holds promise of beating climate change. And in Africa, small farmers are already doing it, as our examples show. Agroforestry as natural climate solution refers to the intentional establishment, increase or maintenance of trees in agricultural landscapes, we said in the previous article. As forests are increasingly being broken down by agriculture, regenerative agriculture is becoming more urgent.

For example: Malawi’s Zomba-Malosa Forest Reserve is a degenerating forest: widespread harvesting of trees for timber, fuelwood and charcoal are destroying about 2% of the country’s forests. The lack of electricity and the high price of natural gas, force households to use fuelwood for cooking. Also, harvesting and selling wood for charcoal production to bolster the farmers’ meagre income from subsistence farming, further helps deplete forests.

A Malawian woman with a child on her back. The lack of electricity and the high price of natural gas force households to use fuelwood for cooking, degenerating.

Healing the land

Regenerative agroforestry, on the other hand, is about regeneration (renewal, revival). Instead of working against nature to gain as much production as possible out of the system, the regenerative farmer works with nature, mimicking natural ecosystems.

Agroforestry has long been recognised as a sustainable land management practice, integrating trees, crops, and livestock to enhance biodiversity and productivity.

Regenerative agroforestry blends permaculture principles with agroforestry restore ecosystems, build soil health and create agricultural systems that sustains itself. It is not just about growing food; it is it’s about giving back to the earth rather than depleting and degrading it.

Key features of regenerative agroforestry

Regenerative agriculture support foods production while benefiting the environment by rebuilding soil, increase biodiversity and fight climate change by minimising earth warming. It is characterised by the following:

Mimicking nature

Regenerative agroforestry create agriculture that closely mimics natural ecosystems by combining diverse plant species, trees, crops, and sometimes livestock to create a system that is self-sustaining while enhancing ecosystem services and biodiversity.

Soil health

Deteriorating soil is caused by the breakdown of the traditional natural fallow system. Farmers used to work part of the land while allowing the rest to lie fallow for a period of time to naturally replenish fertility of the soil. Another cause is the lack of funds and access to mineral fertiliser, which declined when government withdrew funding.

Traditional agroforestry improves soil health through organic matter and erosion control; regenerative agroforestry actively rebuilds degraded soils by using cover cropping, while integrating trees helps storing carbon (carbon sequestration). retain water and enhance nutrient recycling, thereby making soils more resilient and fertile.

•Agroforestry adds organic matter from dead tree litter and root biomass to the soil, improving the soil structure and the nutrient content.
•Tree root systems help maintain the soil allowing better absorption of water, thereby keeping erosion at bay and lowering compaction.
•As a result of better soil and more moisture, plants grow better, boosting not only plant diversity, but also animal diversity by providing a suitable habitat for a host of wildlife.
•Better soil health needs fewer chemical fertilisers, thereby cutting down greenhouse gas emissions. Healthy soil also acts as a carbon sink that holds Co².

Thus, agroforestry systems thus generate microclimates that protect crops from adverse weather conditions while improving water management, minimising drought impacts, and preventing waterlogging.

A typical village in rural Malawi.

Climate resilience

By restoring the soil and preventing erosion, thereby keeping moisture in the soil, regenerative systems help withstand extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. This leads to sustainable land use.

Economic diversification

Regenerative agroforestry creates more than one income stream by integrating cash crops, fruit trees, timber, and livestock, thereby reducing financial risks for farmers. Small-scale farmers with a single income stream are extremely vulnerable to climate vagrancies that can instantly destroy their little crop and livelihood, leaving them hungry and even poorer.

Restoration of degraded lands

Regenerative agroforestry focuses on actively restoring degraded ecosystems. By integrating fast-growing trees, especially bean-bearing trees that increase nitrogen in the soil, with crops, barren lands can be rehabilitated while providing food from and cash income from wood products for communities.

In short, core principles are:

Regenerative agroforestry thus rests on the following core principles:

•Soil must be kept covered to prevent erosion;

•Crop diversification enhances farmer’s resilience;

•Food security is ensured while ecosystem is being regenerated;

•Knowledge exchange among farmers and other stakeholders is promoted;

•Economic viability is achieved for long-term sustainability.

Improving soil and livelihoods

Farmers in Malawi and Zambia have integrated leguminous ‘fertiliser’ trees and shrubs to fix nitrogen in the soil in their maize fields, resulting in a major increase in yield.vThese trees capture atmospheric nitrogen, and release is into the soil when the large amount of biomass they provide decomposes in the soil, releasing it for crop growth.

An assessment of the impact of fertiliser trees/shrubs in eastern Zambia shows that it improves (household) food security and can reduce the seasonal household hunger period, when there are no crops, by two to four months per year depending on the type of tree or shrub species planted.

Regenerative agroforestry also offers financial resilience by creating multiple income streams through crop diversification. In Tanzania, farmers use high-value cash crops like cardamom in addition to staple crops like maize, bananas and beans to ensure a stable income and food security. Trees grown on steep slopes or poor soils help farmers to utilise all of their land while improving soil structure and fertility.

Regenerative agroforestry goes beyond traditional agroforestry by integrating permaculture principles for long-term sustainability and proves that farming can be sustainable, profitable and resilient while restoring the environment.
Instead of viewing land as a resource to exploit, regenerative agroforestry treats land as a living system that thrives when taken care of.

Source references

Agroforestry: the key to regenerative agriculture (2023) Sustainable Agriculture Network
https://www.sustainableagriculture.eco/post/agroforestry-the-key-to-regenerative-agriculture

Ashar, M.F., Ali, E., Aziz, A. (2024) Regenerative Agroforestry for Soil Restoration, Biodiversity Protection, and Climate Change Mitigation Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-97-6691-8_13

Ajayi, O.C., Akinnifesi, F.K., Sileshi, G., Chakeredza, S., Mn’gomba, S., Aljayi, O., Nyoka, I., Chineke, T. (2009) Local solutions to global problems: the potential of agroforestry for climate change adaptation and mitigation in southern Africa World Agroforestry Centre. https://www.cifor-icraf.org/publications/downloads/Publications/PDFS/pp08305.pdf

Hassan, T. (2025) Regenerative Agroforestry: The Next step in sustainable farming. AgriNext Conference https://agrinextcon.com/regenerative-agroforestry-sustainable-farming/