Tree planting
Agroforestry
Coffee
Kenya
The Bungoma food forest in western Kenya has moved from planning into planting. Every plot is now established, and the fruit, vegetable, legume, and fodder zones are up and running. The first fast-growing vegetables, sown weeks earlier, are already being harvested and sold, and coffee planting has begun across the pilot.
The Bungoma food forest is part of Green Earth's wider agroforestry work in Kenya. It spans 21 registered plots across roughly 8 hectares (20 acres) in Bungoma County and layers crops with different growth cycles on the same land. Long-term cash crops like coffee, banana, avocado, mango, pawpaw, citrus, and apple, grow with nitrogen-fixing legumes such as soya bean and Nyota bean. Fast-growing indigenous vegetables fill the lower tier: managu (African nightshade), kunde (cowpea), sageti (spider plant), and mrenda (jute mallow).
Solar-powered micro-irrigation runs across the plots and keeps the system productive through the dry season. Growing several crops together raises the income a plot can produce and spreads risk across harvests, giving farmers a buffer against weather variability and market swings.
Read more: Planning a food forest: the foundations for long-term carbon integrity in Kenya
Coffee forms the long-term backbone of the system, and its rollout began with a farmer training session. The Coffee Production Manager at Sirisia Farmers Cooperative Society — the project's coffee seedling supplier — led farmers through planting, field maintenance, and the practices that support strong yields. The session closed with an on-plot demonstration of correct seedling installation. The first group of farmers has since started planting, continuing across the plots through the week.
Local farmers during a training session on planting coffee seedlings. Bungoma food forest initiative, Green Earth.
Early income is already reaching households. The indigenous vegetables sown in the opening weeks have begun selling in local markets, returning value before the tree crops mature. This steady livelihood sits at the centre of the design: Farmers who earn a stable living from their land maintain and protect it for the long term.
This pilot is the first stage of a larger plan. A successful five-year run provides the basis to scale the approach to around 200 hectares (500 acres) and to integrate a carbon project at that point. The carbon benefits follow from the health of the land and the strength of local livelihoods.
Read more: The social impact of Green Earth’s projects
With every zone planted, the first harvests sold, and coffee in the ground, the Bungoma food forest is taking shape as a working model of restoration that generates value from the start.
An aerial view of The Bungoma Food Forest. Bungoma food forest initiative, Green Earth.
Projects like the Bungoma food forest show how Green Earth builds nature-based solutions that last: productive land, stable farmer livelihoods, and healthy ecosystems that store carbon for decades. For businesses seeking carbon credits with real integrity, this is where it begins: genuine restoration, backed by the people who steward the land.
