How we fight poverty
Environmental Sustainability
Smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs in the developing world are among those most affected by climate change — yet they are often the least equipped to protect against it. Without resources to combat threats like volatile weather patterns, worsening natural disasters, and crop and livestock diseases, these small-scale producers face lower incomes and higher risks as they struggle to earn a good living.
A BOLD COMMITMENT
Regenerate 30: 30 Million Beneficiaries, 30 Million Tons of Emissions Cut
TechnoServe is meeting this challenge with a bold commitment to help create a people-, nature-, and climate-positive world. Our Regenerate 30 initiative aims to achieve the following impact by 2030:
- 30 million people with increased resilience
- 30% average income increase for farms and businesses
- 30 million tons of CO2e mitigated or sequestered
- 30 million acres of land under sustainable management or improved conservation
- $300 million in private sector investment
Learn more from our Regenerate 30 fact sheet and the video below:
Our Work in Environmental Sustainability
As part of TechnoServe’s business approach to environmental sustainability, we work not only to strengthen the resilience of the farmers, entrepreneurs, and businesses that operate within a market system, but also contribute to the overall sustainability of that system.
We do this by working with market actors to increase their productivity and incomes while providing the tools and connections they need to cope with both short-term and longer-term climate threats.
We help them reduce poor management practices that contribute to environmental degradation and climate change, and identify new, innovative opportunities for wealth creation. For instance, we train smallholder farmers on climate-smart practices that improve their resilience to the effects of changing weather patterns, improving their crop yields and incomes.
TechnoServe also supports smallholder farmers and small businesses owners to improve the health of their local environment, guiding them on tree planting, soil erosion prevention, organic practices where feasible, nature-based solutions to address wastewaster from coffee processing centers, and many other environmentally sustainable techniques.
TechnoServe works with policymakers, government institutions, including agencies like the USDA, and other stakeholders to create a system where environmental stewardship is a critical and attainable aspect of a healthy market system.
Who Benefits from Environmental Sustainability?
Smallholder farmers
When farmers apply practices that improve the health and productivity of their crops, they are better able to withstand climate-related challenges, improving their overall economic and social well-being.
Our work in the area of environmental sustainability has shown that farmers can even increase production, and their incomes as a result, in spite of short-term environmental shocks. In addition, our work to broker relationships between farmers and other market actors expands access to improved seed varieties, technologies such as drip irrigation, and organic inputs that can help build resilience to long-term changes such as drought and heat.
Local businesses
TechnoServe works with processing firms to ensure they are able to provide buyers with the highest quality and volume of product without perpetuating a damaging cycle of natural resource mismanagement and contamination.
TechnoServe helps small business owners like micro-retailers procure and use cost-saving technologies that reduce their environmental footprint, as well as develop and market products that promote a circular economy, such as the following necessities:
- Fertilizer
- Fuel
- Food products made from agricultural byproducts
Communities
Unsustainable environmental practices, like failure to treat wastewater from coffee wet mills or indiscriminate use of fertilizer and pesticides, can negatively impact whole communities.
TechnoServe works with farmers, processors, and communities to develop solutions that amplify economic benefits for farmers and small businesses while maintaining or improving environmental standards in the areas where they work.
Sustainability Projects
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ReGenerate Rwanda
ReGenerate Rwanda works to boost incomes, address the unmet demand for essential products and services, and deliver environmental benefits.
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Greenr Sustainability Accelerator Program
The Opportunity Climate change and rapid environmental degradation are among the greatest threats of our times. If unchecked, climate change can push 132 million people globally into poverty in the next 10 years. Ranked as the seventh most climate change-affected country in the world, India is likely to face unprecedented adverse development outcomes. To mitigate…
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NutriSave
NutriSave, funded by the Gates Foundation and the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), is an innovative three-year program with an equal dual objective of reducing food loss and waste and increasing access to nutritious fruits and vegetables to low-income communities in Kenya.
Blog Posts
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6 Green Startups to Watch in 2026
Sustainability is no longer a passing buzzword. It is becoming one of the most powerful drivers of innovation, investment, and socio-economic transformation. Learn about six green startups in India that are solving real-world challenges in an environmentally-friendly way.
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Sustainable Farming Practices: How Farmers in India Restore Water and Soil
In India’s maize belt, farmers are reclaiming their land from the worst drought in 150 years by embracing regenerative agriculture to restore water and soil health. See the faces and hear the stories behind this transformation in our latest photo essay.
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From Consulting to Social Impact: A Career Path Where Strategy Meets Purpose
Wondering what a social impact career looks like for former strategy consultants? Learn how TechnoServe’s Strategic Initiatives team bridges corporate strategy with on-the-ground implementation, applying consulting skills to build market-based solutions that create lasting change for smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs.
See the impact
Climate-Smart Agriculture in India
In the next 30 years, the world’s farmers will need to double food production in order to feed a growing population. TechnoServe is working to help smallholder farmers in Madhya Pradesh, India to improve their productivity and resilience – generating higher incomes and better access to nutritious food for farming families – while minimizing the environmental impact of agriculture through climate-smart agricultural practices.
JOIN THE MISSION
Help Struggling Farmers and Small Business Owners Lift Themselves Out of Poverty
