Project overview

Boomitra allows the World Food Programme (WFP) to monitor soil carbon and works with farmers to adopt regenerative land management practices that increase soil health and agricultural yields, while offsetting greenhouse gas emissions.

The problem

Over one third of global soils are significantly degraded, hampering food production, water distribution and carbon storage, and impacting farmer livelihoods worldwide. Improving soil health is essential: soils form the foundation of food and water systems and act as the largest land-based carbon sink, with the potential to store over nine gigatons of carbon dioxide annually.
 

Orange fleshed sweet potatoes are harvested at the Bisanandi Cultural Group farm in Kinna town, Isiolo Counnty in northern Kenya; Photo: WFP/Photolibrary


 

The solution

Boomitra’s technologies allow the team to remotely monitor soil carbon; nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) levels; and moisture levels across the globe without the need for physical soil sampling. Boomitra couples these insights with carbon credit payment schemes, empowering farmers around the world with the knowledge and financial tools to adopt regenerative land management practices. These practices, in turn, increase soil health and agricultural yields, while also offsetting a significant portion of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. To date, Boomitra has established projects on over 5 million acres of land globally with 100+ partners. 

Mwanaisha Halua, one of the early adopters of orange fleshed sweet potato crop in Makere village, Tana River County, southeast of Kenya harvests tubers from one of her plots. Photo: WFP/Martin Karimi

 


 

The way forward

The goal of the collaboration between Boomitra and WFP was to increase the resilience of 10,000 Farm-to-Market Alliance (FtMA) farmers by providing them with the knowledge and tools to improve their soil health and yields, and the means to access carbon revenue, to increase their incomes by a target of 20 percent. Activities includes: 1) identifying and enrolling farmers into the program; 2) map 30,000 hectares of land in Kenya; 3) submit carbon credits to the international verification body (VERRA); and 4) transferring carbon credit finance to the farmers as a result of their carbon sequestration activities.

During Boomitra's WFP Sprint, two apps were developed in Kenya to enable the onboarding of farmers and to provide farm and soil insights to farmers to enhance their productivity.

In 2023, Boomitra was awarded GBP1 million (approximately US$1.27 million) by the Earthshot Prize to accelerate growth and access new markets. 

 A Farm to Market Alliance Farmer Service Centre, Solomon Muthee, aggregator in Timau, Meru County, collecting potato produce from a farmer.  Photo: WFP/FtMA/Eastman Empire
 

Last updated: 14/03/2024