Vivent's Africa programmes partner with smallholder cooperatives and women-led farmer groups across Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania — delivering ARR, biochar, and regenerative agriculture credits through community-owned carbon projects.
Sub-Saharan Africa holds some of the world's most significant remaining tropical forest and savannah ecosystems — alongside vast areas of degraded land that were once forested and can be restored. At the same time, African smallholder farmers are among the most climate-vulnerable people on Earth: exposed to erratic rainfall, soil degradation, and market exclusion that makes carbon income not merely beneficial but genuinely transformational.
Vivent launched in Kenya in 2021 with a community ARR programme in the Mount Kenya buffer zone, and has since expanded to Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania. Our Africa programmes are built around the same community-first principles as India — FPIC in local languages, Gram Sabha equivalents for community consent, and mobile carbon payments via M-Pesa and MTN Mobile Money that reach even remote farming households.
Africa is also Vivent's highest-growth region. The combination of high-quality restoration land, strong co-benefit stories, and growing buyer appetite for African-origin credits has made it the fastest-expanding part of the portfolio. Our Ghana biochar programme — the region's first Puro.earth-verified project — issued its first credits in 2024 and is already oversubscribed for 2025 and 2026 vintage.
Five countries, three pathways — each project designed with local communities as genuine co-owners of the carbon assets they steward.
1,800 smallholder farmers restoring 12,000 ha of degraded buffer zone land with native Cedar, Podo, and Grevillea species. Community land trust holds carbon rights. 91% seedling survival. Year 3 income: KES 38,400/household avg.
First Puro.earth-verified biochar programme in West Africa. 1,200 cocoa and maize farmers converting agricultural residue to stable biochar using village-scale kilns. +19% cocoa yield, 9,800 tCO₂e Year 1 credits. 72% women farmers.
1,400 coffee and banana smallholders restoring 9,200 ha of degraded highland forest on Mount Elgon slopes. Mixed native species with agroforestry integration — carbon and shade for coffee quality. GIZ co-financing for community infrastructure.
900 groundnut and sorghum smallholders adopting conservation agriculture — no-till, legume intercropping, crop residue management. One of Sub-Saharan Africa's first Verra VM0042 smallholder regen ag credits. 82% women-led households.
1,700 maize and bean farmers restoring 15,000 ha of miombo woodland with native Brachystegia and Julbernardia species. High biodiversity value ecosystem. Water catchment restoration for downstream farming communities.
Pipeline programme — 800 wheat and sunflower farmers in Kenya's Rift Valley converting straw and husk residue to biochar. MoU signed, community FPIC complete, kiln procurement underway. First credits targeted Q2 2027.
Africa is Vivent's most gender-inclusive region: 72% of enrolled farmers are women — reflecting both the demographic reality that women perform the majority of smallholder farm work across Sub-Saharan Africa, and Vivent's deliberate policy of targeting women-led cooperatives as primary enrolment partners. Carbon income is paid directly to the registered farming household, not to male household heads or intermediaries.
Average additional household income from Vivent programmes in Africa: KES 36,000–42,000 per year in Kenya, GHS 2,800–3,400 in Ghana — representing 40–65% of median annual agricultural income for enrolled smallholders. Carbon payments are delivered via M-Pesa (Kenya, Tanzania), MTN Mobile Money (Ghana, Uganda), and Airtel Money (Malawi).
Each community project is governed by a local Carbon Committee — elected by programme members — that oversees monitoring schedules, community buffer pools, and revenue distribution. Carbon rights are held in community land trust structures wherever local law permits.
"The biochar has given us two things at once — better yields from our cocoa and income from carbon. My cooperative used the first payment to buy a grinding machine we share. Now we process our own cocoa instead of selling raw beans."
Whether you're a buyer seeking high-integrity African ARR and biochar credits, a farmer group looking to enrol, or a development partner — our Africa team is ready.