Advanced · Course 5 of 8
Regenerative agriculture
7 modules · 2 hours · Advanced · Free
Regenerative agriculture goes beyond sustainability. Sustainability means not making things worse. Regenerative means actively making things better — restoring soil health, rebuilding biodiversity, and creating farming systems that improve year on year rather than simply holding their own. This course teaches you the principles and practices that make indigenous crop farming genuinely regenerative.
By the end of this course you will be able to
What AfCFTA means for farmers
Tariffs between African countries are being reduced, making it easier for processed indigenous crops to reach continental markets.
This shifts opportunity toward farmers who can produce, process, and package indigenous crops for wider trade.
Key Shiriki crops with export potential
Moringa: High-value global health product with strong export demand.
Sorghum: Strategic grain for gluten-free and heritage food markets.
Bambara groundnut: Underdeveloped but high-potential processed product market.
Amaranth: Growing health food demand with minimal competition.
Dried leafy greens: Strong diaspora market demand globally.
What it takes to export
Export readiness requires formal registration, food safety compliance, labeling, and phytosanitary certification.
With proper structure and support, smallholder farmers can access continental markets.
Check your understanding
Module 6 · Course completion
Where do you see yourself in the indigenous crop value chain in 5 years, and what steps will you take to get there?
The three functions of a cover crop
Soil protection: Covers bare soil between cash crops, reducing erosion, crusting, and moisture loss. Even partial cover significantly reduces evaporation.
Soil feeding: Living roots continuously feed soil organisms. When terminated, cover crops add organic matter that boosts soil biology.
Nutrient cycling: Legumes fix nitrogen, while deep-rooted plants bring nutrients from deeper soil layers to the surface.
The best cover crops for a Shiriki indigenous crop system
Slenderleaf / Crotalaria (marejea / mito / alaju): A powerful dual-purpose plant that fixes nitrogen, suppresses nematodes, improves soil structure, and produces edible leaves. Can be cut and used as green manure or mulch.
Cowpeas (nyembe / lebelebele / kunde): Fast-growing nitrogen fixer. Can be grown for food or as a soil-restoring cover crop between seasons. Adds 40–80kg/ha nitrogen.
Sorghum sudangrass: Produces large biomass for organic matter building. Must be cut before seed set and used as mulch to avoid weed risk.
Moringa (living cover / windbreak): Planted on borders as a living structure that reduces wind, provides continuous leaf mulch, and improves soil fertility over time.
Cover crop plan
Identify all beds that will be empty in the next 3 months. Assign a cover crop based on need: nitrogen fixation (cowpeas, slenderleaf), organic matter (sorghum sudangrass), pest suppression (slenderleaf), or living cover (moringa).
Prepare or order seed now so planting can begin immediately after harvest.
Check your understanding
Module 2 · 3 questions + reflection
Reflection questions
Are there any bare beds in your growing space that could immediately be planted with a cover crop?
Where have you seen poor tomato performance in the past — and could a Crotalaria rotation help improve that soil condition?
What mycorrhizal fungi are
Mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic relationship with around 90% of plant species. They colonise plant roots and extend fine filaments (hyphae) deep into the soil, increasing the plant’s access to water and nutrients.
Through this relationship, a plant can access a soil volume 10–100 times larger than its own root system. In return, the plant provides sugars from photosynthesis — a partnership that has existed for over 450 million years.
What mycorrhizae do for your crops
Phosphorus access: Unlocks phosphorus from soil zones roots cannot reach, reducing dependence on fertiliser.
Drought tolerance: Expands water access, helping plants survive dry conditions more effectively.
Disease resistance: Strengthens plant immune responses against soil-borne diseases.
Nutrient sharing: Transfers nutrients between plants, supporting seedlings and weaker plants in the system.
What destroys mycorrhizal networks
Deep tillage, excessive synthetic fertilisers (especially phosphate), fungicides, and leaving soil bare all damage or break fungal networks.
Over time, this leads to dependency on external inputs because the natural biological system that supported fertility is weakened or destroyed.
How to protect and rebuild them
Use minimum tillage and avoid turning entire beds. Keep living roots in the soil through cover crops. Use compost instead of synthetic fertilisers where possible.
Avoid unnecessary fungicides and consider mycorrhizal inoculants when establishing new beds with depleted soil biology.
Observation exercise
When you pull up a plant, check the roots. Healthy mycorrhizal soil often shows fine fuzzy fungal threads on roots. Depleted soil roots appear smooth and clean.
This simple observation can reveal more about soil health than many laboratory tests.
Check your understanding
Module 3 · 3 questions + reflection
Reflection questions
Have you experienced soil that required more and more inputs over time to maintain yields? What might have happened underground?
What would minimum tillage look like in your current growing system, and what is stopping you from trying it?
Why we till — and what we lose when we do
Farmers typically till to break compaction, incorporate organic matter, and prepare seedbeds. However, each of these can be achieved with less soil disturbance.
Compaction can be relieved using a broadfork or deep-rooted cover crops. Organic matter can be added on the surface and integrated by soil organisms. Seedbeds for most crops only require shallow disturbance, not full inversion of soil layers.
The no-dig bed approach
The no-dig system uses permanent beds and pathways. Each season, 5–10cm of compost is added on top without digging it in. Planting is done directly into this layer.
Over time, soil biology builds undisturbed, weeds decline, and fertility increases naturally. This approach aligns with both modern regenerative systems and traditional African raised-bed farming practices.
Minimum tillage techniques by crop type
Leafy greens: Plant through a compost layer using a dibber or directly broadcast onto compost and lightly cover. No tillage required.
Legumes: Place seed 3–5cm deep using a stick or dibber into undisturbed soil. Close hole manually.
Root crops: Use a hand fork to create individual planting holes (15–20cm). Avoid turning the entire bed.
Grains: Create shallow furrows (2–3cm) and lightly cover seed. Minimal disturbance is sufficient.
Transition plan
Select one bed and convert it to no-dig this season. Add 8–10cm compost on top without digging. Plant directly into it and compare results with tilled beds.
Track weed pressure, soil condition, and yield differences over time as part of your own regenerative field experiment.
Check your understanding
Module 4 · 3 questions + reflection
What is your current tillage depth and frequency? After this module, what is one change you could realistically make?
Do you currently produce enough compost to support a no-dig system? If not, what would you need to improve first?
What animals contribute to a regenerative crop system
Nutrient cycling through manure: Animal manure is a complete organic fertiliser. Well-composted chicken manure contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and essential micronutrients. A flock of 20 laying hens can fertilise around 500m² of vegetable production annually.
Pest and weed management through grazing: Chickens in resting beds consume pests such as cutworms and grasshoppers while scratching up weeds. This provides free pest control while improving soil fertility.
Soil disturbance through controlled movement: Managed animal movement helps break soil crusts and incorporates organic matter naturally without mechanical tillage.
Practical integration on a small plot
Even small spaces can integrate livestock effectively. A flock of 10–15 chickens can provide manure for composting, pest control in resting beds, and eggs for household income.
Chickens should only be introduced into resting beds between cropping cycles — never into active growing beds. Rotation is essential to prevent crop damage and maintain system balance.
Indigenous livestock breeds
Indigenous African chicken breeds such as Ovambo, Venda, and Potchefstroom Koekoek are more resilient in low-input systems than commercial broilers. They are better adapted to local disease pressures and variable feeding conditions.
These breeds are well suited to regenerative systems where resilience and adaptability matter more than maximum production under intensive inputs.
Check your understanding
Module 5 · 3 questions + reflection
Reflection questions
Do you currently keep any animals near your growing space? If yes, how is their manure used in your system?
Where does fertility currently leave your system instead of cycling back into it — and how could animals help close that loop?
Six simple soil health indicators you can measure yourself
1. Earthworm count: Dig a 30cm × 30cm × 20cm hole and count earthworms. Increasing numbers over time indicate improving soil biology. Healthy soil often contains 10+ worms per sample.
2. Soil organic matter (jar test): Shake soil and water in a jar, let it settle for 24 hours. A visible floating dark layer indicates organic matter presence and soil fertility.
3. Infiltration rate: Time how quickly 1 litre of water absorbs into a 5cm soil core. Faster absorption indicates better soil structure.
4. Compaction test: Insert a rod into moist soil and measure penetration depth. Deeper penetration over time indicates reduced compaction.
5. pH test: Use a simple kit to monitor soil pH. Most indigenous crops perform best between 5.5 and 6.8.
6. Crop performance record: Track yield, growth speed, and pest pressure per bed over time as a real-world indicator of soil health.
Start your soil health record today
Select three beds: best, average, and most degraded. Perform earthworm counts and the jar test on each one and record your results as a baseline.
Repeat every 3 months on the same beds. Over time, this creates a clear soil health trajectory that reflects the impact of your management practices.
Check your understanding
Module 6 · 3 questions + reflection
Which soil health indicator is most practical for you to measure regularly in your current setup?
How would having documented soil improvement data change how you communicate value to buyers or partners?
The three audiences and how to speak to each
Buyers — chefs, restaurants, specialty stores: Buyers need clarity and proof. Explain concrete practices: no synthetic inputs, composting, cover cropping, minimum tillage, and rotation. Support claims with soil health data like earthworm counts and organic matter trends.
Avoid vague claims like “we are sustainable.” Specific practices build trust; general statements do not.
Funders and institutions: Funders want measurable outcomes. Frame your story around hectares under regenerative management, yield trends, reduced input costs, soil health improvements, and farmer participation. Align with goals like climate resilience, food security, and biodiversity.
Community members and farmers: Communities respond to visible results. Demonstrate differences in soil health using earthworm counts, water infiltration tests, and yield comparisons between practices.
The indigenous crop regenerative connection
Indigenous crops like cowpeas, sorghum, lablab, and amadumbe were historically grown using methods that align with regenerative agriculture — intercropping, minimal tillage, crop rotation, and livestock integration.
This reframes regenerative agriculture not as something new, but as something being recovered and documented from African farming heritage.
Check your understanding
Module 7 · Final quiz
Final reflection — completing Course 5
How does reframing traditional African farming as regenerative change your understanding of your own agricultural heritage?
What knowledge from older farmers or your community now appears as regenerative wisdom?
What is one regenerative practice you will implement in the next 30 days? Write it down and commit to it.