In the regenerative agriculture revolution, building soil carbon is at the heart of restoring productivity, resilience, and profitability—especially for smallholder and African farmers. While conventional farming mines the soil, regenerative farming feeds and heals it, turning it into a powerhouse of fertility, water retention, and biological life.

Soil carbon is the amount of carbon stored in soil as organic matter including decomposed plant residues, microorganisms, and living roots. 

It acts like a sponge and pantry for your soil: holding water, feeding microbes, and releasing nutrients slowly to your crops.

Organic matter including decomposed plant residues, microorganisms, and living roots. It acts like a sponge and pantry for your soil: holding water, feeding microbes, and releasing nutrients slowly to your crops.

• Increased fertility and nutrient cycling
• Greater water retention—carbon-rich soils hold 20x their weight in water
• Improved structure and root penetration
• Enhanced microbial activity
• Resilience to drought, pests, and floods

Regenerative

• Practices mimic nature
• Carbon is sequestered and stored in the soil
• Microbes feed plants naturally
• Yields increase with fewer inputs

a) Cover Cropping

Planting legumes, grasses, or multispecies mixes between crop cycles adds biomass and feeds soil microbes.

• Fixes nitrogen

• Protects soil from erosion

• Leaves root biomass that stores carbon

Best choices: Cowpeas, lablab, sunn hemp, pigeon pea: Cowpeas, lablab, sunn hemp, pigeon pea

b) Compost and Organic Amendments

Applying compost, animal manure, and plant residues directly adds stable organic carbon.stable organic carbon.

• Use kitchen waste, crop residues, and livestock manure

• Apply 2–5 tons per hectare during land prep

Pro tip: Inoculate compost with EM (Effective Microorganisms) to speed up breakdown.: Inoculate compost with EM (Effective Microorganisms) to speed up breakdown.

c) Mulching

Mulch protects the soil from sun and wind, feeds microbes as it decomposes, and prevents carbon loss.

• Use maize stalks, grass clippings, banana leaves

• Apply 5–10 cm thickness around crops

d) No-Till or Minimum Tillage

Tillage breaks up carbon aggregates and releases CO₂ into the atmosphere. No-till preserves carbon underground.

• Use hand jab planters, rip lines, or shallow planting

• Combine with mulch or cover crops to suppress weeds

e) Agroforestry & Perennials

Trees and perennials sequester more carbon than annual crops and protect the soil year-round.

• Try intercropping with:

  • Gliricidia sepium (quick-growing nitrogen-fixer) (quick-growing nitrogen-fixer)

  • Moringa oleifera (edible and medicinal) (edible and medicinal)

  • Banana or plantain rows with legume

  f) Integrating Livestock (Managed Grazing)

   Grazing animals return carbon-rich manure to the soil. If done rotationally, it:

• Stimulates plant regrowth

• Promotes microbial diversity

• Builds root biomass

Use portable fencing or tethering to rotate animals daily portable fencing or tethering to rotate animals daily.

Carbon is the currency of healthy soil. When you build soil carbon, you're not just storing greenhouse gases you’re investing in your farm’s future, your yields, your food quality, and your resilience to climate change.