In a world where land degradation costs economies billions of dollars in lost profits every year, young entrepreneurs from Ecuador, Senegal, and Bangladesh are proving the opposite: restoring soils can generate income and create jobs today.
In Senegal, Fero Daniel Halman launched the company Féro, which combines highly productive greenhouses with agroforestry. Farmers quickly earn revenue from selling onions and other crops, while freed-up plots are planted with trees. This model reduces the area under cultivation and simultaneously restores fertility to the land without a long wait for returns from the forest.
In Ecuador, Carlos Alfredo González Vargas founded Pacchar, which turns agricultural and forestry waste into biochar. This substance retains moisture and nutrients in the soil, reduces the need for fertilizers, and stores carbon for decades. The company already works with more than a hundred farming communities and has restored over five hundred hectares, showing increased yields and resource savings.
In Bangladesh, Mashrur H. Shurid is developing the AI-based platform Aunkur. The system collects data on soil, weather, and farms, provides precise recommendations for sowing and fertilization, and then helps farmers gain access to credit and markets. Today, the service covers more than thirty-three thousand farms and proves that accurate data translates into real money for smallholders.
All three projects are part of the YECO program of the International Trade Centre and the G20 Global Land Initiative, supported by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Participants receive mentorship on business models, intellectual property protection, and attracting investment, turning environmental solutions into sustainable enterprises.
The key to success is combining quick economic returns with long-term restoration. When a farmer sees real benefits already in the first season, he is willing to invest in preserving the land, and investors get proof that 'green' projects bring profit, not just costs.
Restoring degraded lands is no longer charity but a market where young entrepreneurs earn by creating jobs and returning fertility to soils.
