SDG 15 · Life on Land · Kenya & Uganda
Farmer-Managed Community Restoration
Farmers design, lead, and own the restoration process. We provide training, capital, and ongoing support — restoring land, rebuilding food security, and reviving communities.
- 2,000 family farmers reached
- 87 hectares of degraded farmland reclaimed
- 300 hectares of vegetation cover restored
The Challenge
Family farmers in remote villages and dryland areas farmlands have lost its fertility. They have no tools and skills to bring it back to life. Vegetation cover is disappearing, and harvests reduce unpredictably from one season to the next.
Without support, the land degradation continues each season. Food becomes harder to find, and hunger and poverty grow deeper for the families who depend on this land. Farmers also have no way to measure what is happening on their land — no way to see how fast the soil, trees, and water are being lost, and no way to plan how to bring them back.
Our Approach
Family farmers know their land best, so we do not take over. Instead, we work through three sets of practices that farmers learn, own, and repeat season after season:
- Land restoration practices
- Land mapping and monitoring practices
- Farming with AI practices.
All three run through our Farmer Hubs — community-led gathering places in remote villages and dryland areas across Kenya and Uganda. In each hub, farmers plan together, share what they know, apply plantix AI app, and learn new skills side by side. Elders pass down wisdom, and young people bring fresh ideas.
Approach One: Land Mapping and Monitoring Practices
The Civicom Aid team uses Restor, a free online tool, to map each farmland, study it, and watch it closely — before restoration starts, while it happens, and after it ends.
Through Restor, we check:
- The number of plant, frog, animal, and bird species likely living on the land
- Yearly water loss into the air
- Tree loss each year, and why it happens
- Drought risk
- Soil loss
- How much green cover remains
This gives farmers, our team, and funders one clear, shared view of the farmland. With this view:
- Farmers can see which fields need the most care
- Farmers can choose the right method for each spot
- Farmers can track progress season by season
- We can show real change on real maps — not guesses
Approach Two: Land Restoration Practices
Farmers learn low-cost ways to rebuild their soil and bring back plant cover, using what their farmland already holds.
Family farmers learn and use:
- Assisted natural regeneration — farmers protect and care for the stumps, roots, and young trees already growing on their land, instead of planting new ones.
- Bund building — farmers build small earth walls that hold rainwater in the soil for weeks, giving buried seeds time to sprout on their own.
- Regenerative farming — farmers use simple methods that improve soil fertility instead of degrading it down.
- Crop diversification — farmers grow different crops together, which protects the harvest and brings daily income.
Alongside this training, we give farmers seeds that stand strong against climate change, plus steady support that lasts well beyond the first season.
Approach Three: Farming with AI Practices
Trainers use Plantix, an AI app, to guide family farmers remotely, and farmers use the same app as a daily guide on their own farmland.
Through the app, family farmers learn and use:
- Farmland selection
- Farmland preparation
- Seed selection
- Crop stages: before seeding, seeding, flowering, fruiting, weeding weeks, organic manure, harvesting, and storage — along with the pests, diseases, rodents, and birds that may show up at each stage
- Diagnosis of crop pests and diseases, with treatment steps and ways to prevent them next time
- A way to connect local farmers with farmers around the world, to share challenges and solutions
In this way, one tool carries training to farmers who live far from any classroom, then stays in their hands — a guide, a resource library, and a daily watch over their farmland.
FARMERS HUBS
The engine of knowledge transfer
Where knowledge grows and spreads
Each hub is led by the community it serves. Farmers plan together, work as a team, share what they know, and learn from real, lived experience. Every hub builds a spirit of learning and teamwork that carries the whole community forward.
Our Goal
By 2030, we aim to restore 20,000 hectares of degraded farmland, up from 87 hectares today. We will reach this goal by helping family farmers use low-cost, simple practices: regenerative farming, assisted natural regeneration, bund building, and a helpful AI app.
A Brief Change Expected
When farmers gather, share what they know, and learn simple, low-cost ways to heal their land, they restore their farmland step by step. As the land heals, harvests grow stronger, families gain steady food, and communities build a future they can stand on, together.
Budini Farmers Hub – Uganda
A gathering place for family farmers in Budini
The soil in Budini has grown weak. The trees are fewer each year. Harvests that once fed whole families now come up short, season after season.
Yet no farmer here stands alone. They come together, sit side by side, and learn as one — growing food the regenerative way to bring the soil back to life, letting old roots and stumps regrow trees on their own, and using the Plantix app to catch pests, disease, and bad weather before real harm is done.
Elders pass down what years on this land have taught them. Young people bring new energy and bold ideas. Together, they are building something lasting — food on the table, and a future worth staying for.
Kinango Farmers Hub – Kenya
A gathering place for family farmers in Kinango
The soil here is dry and tired. Each year, fewer trees stand. Harvests families once relied on now feel like a gamble, season after season.
But no one faces this dry ground alone. In the cool morning light, families come together to work the land as one — growing food the regenerative way to bring the soil back to life, letting old roots grow new trees on their own, and using the Plantix app to catch pests, disease, and bad weather before real harm is done.
Elders carry the wisdom of a lifetime on this soil. Young people bring fresh drive and new thinking. Row by row, together, they are growing something that lasts — steady food for their families, and hope for seasons still to come.
Loima Farmers Hub – Kenya
A gathering place for family farmers in Loima
The land in Loima stretches dry and red, split open by drought and worn down by hard years. Yet across the cracked ground, small patches of green keep pushing through — proof that life still wants to return.
Here, families gather to coax the soil back to health. They grow food the regenerative way to bring the soil back to life, and they build small earth walls that hold rain in the ground for weeks, giving buried seeds the time they need to sprout on their own. The Plantix app helps them catch pests, disease, and bad weather before disaster hits.
Patch by patch, root by root, they are turning cracked red earth back into land that can feed their families once more.
Kibwezi Farmers Hub – Kenya
A gathering place for family farmers in Makueni
Hard seasons in Makueni once meant harvests no one could count on. But look now — rows of green stretch wide and full, proof of what steady care can grow.
Here, families learn side by side. They grow food the regenerative way to bring the soil back to life, they let old roots regrow trees and build small earth walls to hold the rain, and they use the Plantix app to catch pests, disease, and bad weather before real damage sets in.
And it shows. A mother stands in her own field, arms full of fresh greens, a smile on her face — proof of the harvest her family worked for, held in her own two hands.
CIVICOM AID Equipping vulnerable communities in Kenya and Uganda with access to education, sustainable agriculture, and income-generating opportunities.
Email: info@civicom.org
Call/WhatsApp: +254 797 946 000