Our Mission
& Vision
Our Mission
To empower Sankuru farmers with training, tools, and ongoing support to adopt regenerative agricultural practices that enhance soil health, improve yields, and strengthen communities.
Our Vision
To empower Sankuru farmers to grow a promising future through regenerative agricultural.
About Us
Sankuru Regen is an agricultural project seeking to empower farming communities in the Sankuru Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This project is a collaboration led by Daniel Law and facilitated by the US based Appointment Congo and its DRC based non-profit partner AMECO. Sankuru Regen is a collaborative effort with Sankuru farmers and is informed by the principles and practices of regenerative agriculture.
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Our Context
Geographically situated in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo the Sankuru is isolated from markets due to deteriorated infrastructures. Road and energy infrastructures are under developed. Health service systems are minimal and education is lacking. People are primarily dependent on agriculture and the practice of slash-and-burn which begins by clearing rainforest and burning the residue to prepare land. The entrenched belief is that burning produces fertility of the soils. In truth slash & burn practices are deteriorating soils, negatively impacting the local environment, and causing far reaching health issues. Rice is the staple and current methods result in a 30% decrease in rice yields each year. Land is abandon after a few years forcing people to begin the cycle again slashing and burning forests. Across the Sankuru conflicts are emerging between communities over access to forested land to clear and cultivate. Hunger and extreme malnutrition are common place and 15% of children never reaching their 5th birthday. While bleak the urgency and opportunity to effect change is profound. Sankuru Regen has demonstrated agricultural practices that improve yields while abandoning slash-and-burn. Within a growing season we can demonstrate the potential impact our methods can have on yields. The people of the Sankuru are hungry for change. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Slash & Burn
This is a new garden. As you can see in the image the stand of rainforest in the background was chopped down and burned in the foreground. This is what farmers plant into. The first year is the best and then the soil deteriorates over the next couple of years and then it is abandoned.
Road Infrastructure
Roads and many bridges in the Sankuru have deteriorated due to rains and lack of maintenance. The solutions that work are motorbikes and bridges sufficient to facilitate a dry crossing. Notice the bridge that has been formed up in the left of the image is still waiting to be finished.
Our Research
We began in 2022 to develop and field test regenerative methods that work within the Sankuru context. In the early months of 2022 thermal compost was produced using local materials. This compost was incorporated into a modified "rainfed" rice production system which incorporated relevant principles from the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). Generally SRI is associated with flood irrigation, however, the Sankuru context is entirely "rainfed" so methods were identified that would be immediately applicable for local farmers. We confined efforts to locally found materials including locally available seed. Our tests included the following 5 elements: not burning, maintaining ground cover, spacing rice planting hills 25cm apart, rouging at 12-16 days after planting, and incorporating compost. These methods proved to increase yields. Early in 2023 a bean crop was rotated in following the rice on our test plots and ground cover was maintained. Our second season of rice in 2023 demonstrated that our yields actually increased over the 2022 yields. Our results turned heads because normally yields decrease. This increase occurred without burning and using only locally available materials. In 2024 we tried some mechanized planting methods and maintained yields and this on third year land. Our research and methods demonstrated the feasibility, however our greatest obstacles are the entrenched practices and beliefs surrounding agriculture. As part of our feasibility studies we have done compost trainings and planting trainings in several communities throughout the Sankuru. What we have witnessed so far is that people are eager to learn and to try the methods but success will require substantial efforts on our part to educate and transfer key competency's for this initiative to succeed.
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Looking Forward
Beginning in 2025 we launched an effort to walk farmer families through an entire year of practicing and adopting what we are terming "Kuke-Kete" or strengthen the ground in the local language. We intend to conduct site research and work with 10-20 farmer families to identify obstacles to adoption and inform future initiatives. This effort will be curated by local staff who will lead participants through the process of compost production, land preparation, planting, rouging, harvesting, and incorporating rotational crops and possibly some intercropping.
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Our Values
1. People have intrinsic value and dignity were they are.
2. Success is built on what is available locally.
3. Fail forward with intention toward success by iterating small and quickly.
4. Transfer of competency is the proof of understanding
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Operational Principles
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Know Your Context
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Cover the Soil
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Minimize Soil Disturbance
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Promote Crop Bio-Diversity
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Maintain Continuous Living Plants/Roots
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Integrate Livestock