Addressing climate change in dry and degraded lands using carbon sink planters for growing trees.

Today, one third of all land is degraded or degrading, which harms biodiversity and jeopardises essential ecosystems services such as carbon storage. Recent estimates of the global loss of ecosystem services due to land degradation and desertification are between USD 6.3 and 10.6 trillion annually. Research done on our water-saving technology has shown enhanced survival and growth of plants in dry-lands. Kenya like many sub-Saharan countries is hardest hit by climate change, we are now witnessing persistent drought and our soils can no longer support growing of fodder, fruit and native trees. Available irrigation methods are quite expensive and time consuming and are not sustainable. Increasing atmospheric CO2 is one of the contributors to global warming and any intervention to reduce atmospheric CO2 is worthy a trial. The health of soil is a primary concern to farmers and global community, the declining soil quantity and quality in large parts of developing world poses a threat to food security. In many parts of Africa, soils are degraded, eroded, and successively ‘mined’ of their nutrients. Research shows that the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) of Kenya make up over 80 percent of the country, covering 29 counties and a population of about 16 million people, while in Africa, the ASALS comprise of about 55 percent of the land. Due to these low rains, the region is susceptible to climate change and is regularly affected by famine. Application of carbon sink planters will guarantee survival rate of the young trees growing in dry lands by 85% compared to the normal (30%). Proposed project re-establishes lost farming incomes for unemployed and semi-employed women, youth, and migrating farmers, all of whom are struggling with deceleration of land productivity. This technology is being welcomed by marginalised communities farming in dry lands as an input for their income generation and will trigger creation of innovative enterprises with value addition and processing. 

Carbon sink planters are micro-planters that increase survival rate of seedlings/saplings by 85% in water scarce settings. Carbon sink planters are an elegant, simple, and easy-to-use solution to dryland and degraded soil farming. Ideally, a square hollow box with space left empty in the middle for a plant or tree sapling. The sides are lined carefully with a formulated mixture of rocks, organic waste matter, and biochar. The material encasing the minerals and biochar mixture lowers irrigation costs and decays over time, leaving behind a ring of replenished, nutrient-rich soil surrounding the roots of young trees, encouraging stronger early growth even in dry and harsh conditions. Carbon sink planters are an innovative technology and an input that assists in restoration of fruit and native trees in dry areas. Carbon sink planters is a low-cost biodegradable packaging for olivine sand (one ton of olivine sand can take in up to one ton of CO2) and other rock minerals like diatomite with high water retention advantages blended with solid food waste which is first modified into biochar through pyrolysis. Biochar is also an efficient form of carbon sequestration, is hygroscopic and can retain water and soluble nutrients to be released slowly over time. Carbon sink planters allows trees to grow in soil that would otherwise not be conducive to growth and as it breaks down provides healthy microorganism life and an environment that is healthier for plant life due to the introduction of shade and increased water retention in the soil among other factors. Carbon sink planters have potential to re-establish lost business opportunities and improve household livelihoods, including good health, food security, environment, and new jobs.

The target population of Soil Doctors is low-income people farming dry areas. Research shows that the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) of Kenya make up over 80 percent of the country, covering 29 counties and a population of about 16 million people, while in Africa, the ASALS comprise of about 55 percent of the land. Due to these low rains, the region is susceptible to climate change and is regularly affected by famine. Usage of carbon sink planters will re-establish lost business opportunities and improve household livelihoods, including good health, food security, environment, and create new jobs for young women and marginalised groups in rural dry lands. The proposed initiative reestablishes lost farming incomes for the unemployed and semi-employed young women, youth, disabled persons, local organisations, and poor farmers, all of whom are struggling with deceleration of land productivity throughout the developing countries. The project is inherently environmentally friendly, has immense benefits and will see a reversal to the land degradation. This technology will be welcomed by marginalised communities living in dry lands as an input for their income generation activities such as fruit tree nurseries businesses, tree production, fruit production businesses, and will trigger the creation of innovative enterprises with value addition and processing. Use of carbon sink planters for growing trees is an effective countermeasure to increase soil organic carbon stock while improving soil fertility and climate change mitigation in agriculture. The carbon sink planters is a game-changer that not only enrich the soils with minerals and arrest CO2 but improves plant structure, increase resistance to pests and disease, and more intense flavor profiles for fruits trees. Our initiative simply entails turning an environmental and social risk into an opportunity (turning an environmental hazard into a safe asset). It is a valuable soil enhancer that can hold carbon, boost food security, increase soil biodiversity, and discourage deforestation. It is a highly porous product that helps soils to retain nutrients and water. The carbon in carbon-sink planters resists degradation and can be held in soils for hundreds to thousands of years. Thus, the use of Carbon-sink planters for tree growing is an effective way to sequestrate carbon and fight against climate change. Application of carbon sink planters will guarantee survival rate of the young trees growing in dry lands by 85% compared to the normal (30%). The ASALs in Kenya represent 100 million acres of land and each acre utilise an average of 250 pieces of carbon sink planters, and every planter has about a quarter kg of olivine, then this would translate to 6.25 Million of CO2-equivalent captured only by the olivine component of this technology while not factoring out the subsequent carbon sink from the growing of the trees using this technology.

As residents of dry lands in Kenya, we have seen firsthand the devastating effects of climate change on rural farmers. Drought, heat waves, cold snaps, frost, severe storms, flooding, and increases in pests and plant diseases have resulted in lower crop yields and poor nutritional quality. A decade ago, farmers in this region could earn at least $500 a day by growing fruit trees, fodder trees and native trees. However, these soils can no longer support the cultivation of these trees, and available irrigation methods have become too expensive and time consuming. Drought, moisture stress, and season uncertainty are now becoming common place in our regions, posing a growing threat to the agricultural sector and leading to significant crop and livestock losses, as well as food insecurity. Our proposed initiative aims to promote an innovative technology that will assist in the restoration of trees in water scarce settings. Soil Doctors collaborative partnerships with farmers, waste generators, community leaders promote community involvement and engagement. Soil Doctors has been initiated as a business through an intensive product development process (product intelligence). This experience, knowledge wealth, community intelligence and grassroots network has been acquired through the rigorous community based product development cycle and gives Soil Doctors the most valuable advantage. The carbon sink planters have undergone an elaborate product development and the development of the products initially started at the community level in a quest to improve on the soil water efficiency, irrigation cost and soil health implication.

Soil Doctors is still an infant organisation with a viable prototype and requires validating its market entry points for product roll-out. Soil Doctors has been incorporated in Kenya as a private limited company in year 2023; acquisition of patent for carbon sink planters is still work in progress (notice of filed patent application has been received from Kenya Intellectual Property Institute (KIPI)); within two years, over 250 farmers owning degraded farms in Kenya have used over 1000 pieces of carbon sink planters to plant trees. Currently, Soil Doctors are serving areas in three counties in Kenya; Nyeri, Laikipia and Nakuru. At the onset, Soil Doctors conducted a pilot program for the product by planting 1,000 trees using carbon sink planters, 857 trees survived representing an 85.7 percent survival rate doing extremely well compared to normal tree survival rate in dry lands which has remained low ( below 30 percent). Currently, Soil Doctors have a production capacity of 100 planters per day.

Soil Doctors is still an infant organisation with a viable prototype and requires validating its market entry points for product roll-out. Soil Doctors is currently using manual technologies that come with low operation efficiencies and the business model Soil Doctors currently uses inhibits its growth, since it has to pay upfront (payables) for the raw materials from its suppliers, whereas it collects the payments (receivables) in instalments. Solve Team will therefore assist on how to scale-up Soil Doctors business from the current low customer base as revenues from sales will be re-invested into the business and assist in sustainable growth. Of greatest importance is that Solve will support Soil Doctors to test and scale the Unique Value Proposition (UVP) – the innovations in pioneering on carbon sink planters a low-cost, biodegradable product for growing trees in dry lands and with the added functionality of the product to arrest CO2. The support will enable Soil Doctors establish one production and marketing facility for carbon sink planters, establish and validate viable market routes and access working capital that would accelerate to the point where business can get to a scale where the revenues from the installed base will provide sufficient liquidity to fund growth.

Professional mentoring and coaching remain a key support to success of this business. Business networking, room for project visibility, project outreach activities, and collaboration are key considerations as well as fundraising support. Solve experienced advisers could provide their wealth on business strategic guidance, technical knowledge, and widen business connections in Kenya and region. The knowledge and support will contribute to the growth and success of our business. Support to accelerate targeted market development activities outside Kenya and in sub-Saharan region is required. Our initiative requires continued collaboration to devise a range of approaches that can encourage people to work together to resolve climate change effects in a proactive way, including innovation, collaborative and participatory planning, risk assessment, strategies to change perceptions and poverty alleviation programs.