African soils were once so alive, nobody called it regeneration, the land just gave. Dr. Kofi Boa, founder of the Center for No-Till Agriculture (CNTA) in Ghana, has spent decades proving they can give again.
Boa traces his journey from a burned family farm to one of Africa’s most compelling soil restoration demonstration models and makes the case for a distinctly African approach to regeneration: grounded in what fallow land has always shown us, driven by farmers who need a full granary before they need a carbon credit, and proven through evidence you can walk through and see for yourself.
From community-led adoption to the tension between carbon credit schemes and food security, this is a grounded, honest account of what building a regenerative agriculture movement looks like from the inside, in the soil, with the farmers, over decades.
This episode is part of The African Regenerative Frontrunners series is supported by Rootical and co-hosted by The Organic Guy.
FROM A BURNED FARM TO A LIFE’S WORK
Boa’s story is not one of outside expertise arriving to fix things. It grew from the soil itself, from loss, and from a teenager watching his mulched plots stay green while everything around them wilted. His framework rests on three principles — minimal soil disturbance, permanent cover, and crop diversity — all drawn from close observation of what fallow land has always done naturally. The regenerative framework, in his telling, is not foreign to Africa. It is formalised memory.
“Because of the cover, when it rains for a day today, and it doesn’t rain for two weeks, my crops will still be showing up nicely, smiling in your face. But then in the heat of the day, my mother’s crop will be showing some signs of wilting. And I realized that yes, there was something that was different.” — Kofi Boa
SHOW IT, DON’T TELL IT: THE CNTA MODEL
Most smallholder farmers across Africa cannot be referred to peer-reviewed papers or online resources — and Boa built CNTA around that reality. Visitors arrive and walk through the plots before anyone says a word. In the dry season, when every surrounding farm is struggling, CNTA’s covered plots are still producing. The contrast speaks for itself. From there, the model layers deliberately: exposure visits bring community elders and opinion leaders to the centre so they can see the evidence firsthand, and when they return home their credibility carries the message further than any outside expert could. Learning plots are then established within communities, with technical follow-up from CNTA. Within a season or two, champion farmers emerge — individuals committed enough to demonstrate the practice to their neighbours and serve as the local point of contact. The knowledge spreads because people who already trust each other are carrying it.
“The very moment you walk to CNTA, there are several instances nobody will talk to you. It’s whatever you see sits right in your face, especially farmers, people that have been farming, they see things and it’s different in the heat of the day. The dry season, when every farm is withered, they come and the degree of wilting is just very minimal or nothing. They see crops growing, and more importantly, side-by-side demonstrations and people wonder. So, the very moment you enter CNTA, you see evidence, you see benefits, and that shows right in your face.” — Kofi Boa
FOOD SECURITY FIRST: THE CARBON CREDIT PROBLEM
Large tracts of African land are being planted with monoculture timber under the cover of carbon schemes, and the farming communities losing that land gain nothing to eat from it. African smallholder farmers need food security first and any regenerative model that sidelines that in favour of carbon markets has its priorities wrong. Boa’s vision for the next ten to twenty years is simple: healthy soils, productive farms, and farmers across the continent with the dignity and motivation to keep going.
“The African smallholder farmer does not appreciate being paid carbon credits. But first and foremost, our primary concern is being able to nurture the fertility to ensure that it sustains food production, sustainable food production to feed the family and the extra to sell.” — Kofi Boa
Brian and Dr. Kofi Boa also talked about:
- Earthworms under mulch as his first proof that soil was alive
- Why “bigger is better” is the worst advice for new regenerative farmers
- Ageing farmer populations and youth leaving the land
- Howard G. Buffett’s role in supporting regenerative agriculture across Africa
- David Montgomery’s Growing a Revolution as a recommended read
- Why agroecology and climate-smart farming are just regenerative agriculture by another name
LINKS:
MORE INTERVIEWS IN THIS SERIES:
- Omoke Brian – Inside Africa’s regenerative agriculture opportunity
- Million Belay – Why the USAID shutdown was a gift to agroecology in Africa
- Ivan Mandela – Unicorns can wait, African farmers can’t
- Olusola Sowemimo – How a Nigerian lawyer built a profitable organic farm with standards, data and community
More about our guest:
Dr. Kofi Boa is the founder of the Center for No-Till Agriculture (CNTA) in Ghana, where he has spent decades demonstrating the benefits of regenerative conservation agriculture for smallholder farmers. Raised in a farming family in the Ashanti region, he committed himself early to rebuilding soil health through minimal tillage, permanent cover, and crop diversity. CNTA operates as a living demonstration centre where the evidence speaks for itself — and where farmers leave as agents of change.
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