Programs Regenerative Agriculture and Climate Resilience

Increasing climate disasters are eroding decades of development progress, with rural communities in low-income countries facing disproportionate impacts. This creates an urgent imperative for Opportunity to respond to clients’ rapidly evolving needs and safeguard hard-won gains in poverty reduction and financial inclusion. Opportunity is addressing this crisis head-on by ensuring rural clients can access the support and resources necessary to sustain and grow their enterprises amid mounting threats to their economic stability.

Opportunity International’s Agriculture Finance (AgFinance) program works to strengthen climate-resilient development for smallholder farming communities facing disproportionate climate vulnerability. Through coordinated farmer support services and climate-responsive financial products, AgFinance builds adaptive capacity at farm and community levels, helping reduce current climate risks while addressing the institutional and financial constraints that limit adaptation. By integrating regenerative agriculture practices with financial institution partnerships, AgFinance enables inclusive, multi-sectoral responses that reduce smallholder exposure to climate hazards and support equitable pathways toward sustained resilience in the face of compounding climate impacts.

Within the 2025 fiscal year, AgFinance reached 834,358 households across eight countries working with 27 Financial Service Providers (FSPs) in sub-Saharan Africa. 83% of clients are living within the poverty threshold, and 53% within extreme poverty, and are among the most vulnerable to climate change. The Climate and Resilience Strategy integrates into AgFinance’s core structure, strengthening current activities and processes to enhance client adaptation and improve overall resilience. The guiding principle for the AgFinance Climate and Resilience Strategy is a client-centric approach that responds, first and foremost, to the needs of smallholder households facing ever-increasing and severe climate shocks. Deep engagement with local actors, including government officials, financial institutions, and community stakeholders, is essential to achieving locally relevant, sustainable outcomes that build climate resilience and outlive project timelines.

The first version of this strategy was guided by the findings from Opportunity’s research project in Rwanda in 2022² and by scientific recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). AgFinance’s successes and learnings from climate resilience work since 2022 have demonstrated both the transformative potential of our farmer support and financial product innovation programming and the urgent need for a coordinated scale-up across the network.

To learn more about AgFinance's Climate Resilience Strategy, read the full strategy here.

It will be difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate global poverty and end hunger without building resilience to climate change in smallholder agriculture through the widespread adoption of sustainable practices

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation

Regenerative Agriculture (RegenAg) Program

The Impact of Climate-Resilient Farming on Smallholder Farmers and Rural Livelihoods

Opportunity International’s Agriculture Finance Program’s goal is to equip smallholder farmers with the tools, knowledge, and financial access they need to grow more and earn more, ultimately strengthen long-term household resilience. Through peer-led training, financial inclusion, and regenerative agriculture (RegenAg) practices, AgFinance supports farmers in improving productivity while adapting to increasing climate and economic pressures.

At the center of this approach is the Farmer Support Agent (FSA) model: a community-based training system that empowers lead farmers to share practical knowledge and trainings with farmers in their community. FSAs deliver training in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), RegenAg, financial literacy, group dynamics, household planning, and more, helping farmers apply sustainable strategies within their own communities.

Why Regenerative Agriculture Matters 

Smallholder farmers are increasingly facing climate-related challenges that threaten both livelihoods and food security. Flooding, droughts, cyclones, soil degradation, and unpredictable weather patterns continue to reduce harvests, damage homes, and disrupt household income, with rural communities taking the brunt of the most devastating effects.  

To help farmers adapt to these challenges, AgFinance developed its Climate and Resilience Strategy. Regenerative agriculture plays a central role in this work by helping farmers improve soil health, strengthen crop resilience, reduce dependence on costly external inputs, and protect long-term land productivity. 

These practices support not only agricultural sustainability, but broader household stability, including: 

• Improved household food security  
• More reliable income generation  
• Increased ability to pay school fees  
• Better nutrition and household wellbeing  
• Stronger savings and financial resilience  
• Greater community collaboration and knowledge-sharing  

The RegenAg Approach 

AgFinance promotes regenerative agriculture through practical, locally relevant techniques that farmers can apply within their existing farming systems. 

The program focuses on five key principles: 

Through FSA-led training and demonstration plots, farmers learn how to apply these approaches using locally available resources and climate-smart techniques suited to their environments. 

The program emphasizes both sustainability and profitability, helping farmers adopt practices that improve yields while strengthening long-term resilience to climate and market shocks. 

A Farmer’s Path to Greater Productivity and Stability

Namulondo, a mother of eight in Uganda, is working to build a more stable and secure future for her family. Like many smallholder farmers, she has long relied on agriculture to provide for her household. But for years, limited knowledge, low yields, and financial constraints made it difficult to meet even basic needs. Her children frequently missed school due to unpaid fees, and inconsistent income placed a strain on her family. 

Before joining her local savings group, named “Together We Can,” Namulondo farmed three acres of maize using traditional methods, harvesting only five 100kg bags per season. Despite her effort, production remained low and unpredictable. Her coffee trees were underperforming, and she had limited options to improve her situation. 

Her trajectory began to shift, though, when she joined the group and started receiving training through a Farmer Support Agent (FSA). 

Namulondo adopted improved agricultural practices, including the use of treated seeds and better fertilizer applications. She made a strategic decision to reduce her maize plot from three acres to 1.5 acres, focusing on productivity rather than scale. This shift led to a significant increase in output: She now harvests 24 bags of maize per season. Her farm has since been recognized as a model site for other farmers. 

At the same time, Namulondo diversified her livelihood. By integrating coffee and banana production and raising 46 chickens, she has created multiple sources of income while also improving her soil’s health and the farm’s resilience. 

Namulondo continues to adapt and improve her farming practices. Her work is not only about improving her current situation. It is about creating opportunities for her children and building a future with greater stability and choice. Through strengthened knowledge, diversified income, and improved financial management, she is moving beyond subsistence and working toward long-term resilience. 

Program Impact to Date

(as of December 2025)

Across AgFinance-supported communities, farmers are actively applying regenerative agriculture techniques and reporting improvements in productivity, soil fertility, and household wellbeing. 

Farmers are adopting practices including: 

• Soil fertility management  
• Intercropping  
• Mulching  
• Composting  
• Soil cover techniques  
• Organic fertilizer use  
• Contour farming and erosion control  

These changes are directly contributing to: 

• Increased crop productivity  
• Improved soil health  
• Greater resilience to weather variability  
• Reduced dependence on inorganic fertilizer  
• Improved household food security  

Combined with financial literacy training, savings groups, and access to financial services, these agricultural improvements are helping farmers strengthen income stability and invest in their families and businesses. 

Each RegenAg Pilot plot contains a tree nursery, which allows farmers to produce their own seedlings and reduce external dependency. 

“I gained knowledge from good agricultural practices and regenerative agriculture trainings that enabled me to understand better land preparation, proper use of inputs, soil and water conservation, crop management, and post-harvest handling to increase productivity.” 

- Elizabeth

A Comprehensive AgFinance Approach

The RegenAg program does not operate in isolation. When combined with AgFinance’s broader approach to farmer support, including strengthening women’s economic participation through GROW, expanding community-based savings systems, and investing in locally rooted Farmer Support Agents (FSAs), these systems help farmers not only improve production but build more stable livelihoods that can withstand economic and climate-related shocks over time.

Guaranteeing Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW): For many women farmers, the benefits of RegenAg have implications far beyond the farm. Rural women, of whom 72% are employed in agriculture but only 7% have access to support services, are disproportionately impacted by climate change and often carry significant unseen responsibilities at home alongside their agricultural work, including caregiving, household labor, and daily food preparation. RegenAg practices that help improve yields, address climate disasters, and reduce time spent on the farm allow women farmers to produce more consistently and strengthen household stability, a proven strategy to uplift entire families and communities.

Farmer Support Agents (FSAs): AgFinance’s Farmer Support Agent system is central to how RegenAg practices spread and succeed. FSAs and lead farmers live and work in the communities, offering a localized approach that allows FSAs to:

• Demonstrate practical and relevant techniques in familiar conditions.
• Provide ongoing support, follow-ups, and troubleshooting.
• Build trust among savings groups and in new agricultural practices.

As farmers begin seeing visible improvements on neighboring farms, adoption often grows organically through peer learning and community relationships.

Elizabeth's Next Season

Before joining Opportunity International’s AgFinance program, Elizabeth spent most of her time at home, and farming provided only enough to get by. Using traditional methods, she struggled with low yields and inconsistent harvests due to unpredictable weather patterns, pests, and limited financial access.  

After attending a Farmer Support Agent (FSA) training with her local savings group and learning about Regenerative Agriculture practices, though, Elizabeth started to slowly change her approach to farming, and ultimately, her life. 

She learned Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), regenerative agriculture techniques, financial literacy, and record-keeping. The trainings introduced practical ways to improve soil health, manage crops more effectively, and approach farming with longer-term planning. 

Elizabeth applied the lessons carefully. She adopted improved farming practices, budgeted consistently, and spent her loans with a clear strategy. With ongoing support from her FSA, she strengthened both her farm management and financial decision-making. 

The results became visible quickly. Her bean yields doubled compared to previous seasons, improving both household food security and income stability. Her family also adopted stronger environmental conservation practices to protect the productivity of their land over time. 

After receiving her first loan from Inkunga Finance, Elizabeth launched a small business selling vegetables and charcoal. She tracked profits carefully, repaid the loan in full, and now earns a consistent monthly profit. This business also helps ensure Elizabeth has a comprehensive approach to support herself and her family’s livelihoods.  

Today, Elizabeth manages both her farm and business with confidence. She contributes directly to her household income, plans for the future with greater stability, and encourages other farmers to save regularly, use loans productively, and adopt improved agricultural practices. 

Read Elizabeth's full story here.