Multifunctional Landscapes that Incentivize Green Innovations and Improve Livelihoods  

Thriving Landscapes, Vibrant Futures Blog Series #2 

Sustainable landscape transformation will not happen at scale unless it makes economic sense for communities and investors. Recognizing this, the CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program places a key focus on markets and Business Models that reward nature-positive practices. The idea is to create more substantial incentives for farmers, businesses, and even consumers to adopt and support multifunctional landscape solutions. This means innovating along value chains, developing inclusive business models, and leveraging finance to ensure that conservation and restoration efforts yield tangible economic benefits.  

CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program works with partners to build on existing achievements of past initiatives to co-create knowledge on market trends and consumer preferences, and to design mechanisms like green business opportunities, circular economy enterprises, and payments for ecosystem services. By aligning market forces with sustainability goals, the program helps ensure that innovations (from agroforestry to climate-smart farming) are not just environmentally sound but also financially viable for rural communities. In practice, this involves everything from organizing farmers into cooperatives for better market access to incubating agroecological startups to engaging buyers who value sustainably produced goods. Ultimately, market-driven approaches complement policy and grassroots efforts, providing the fuel (income, investment, and demand) that can accelerate the transition to a thriving multifunctional landscape. 

Turning Waste into Wealth: Circular Bioeconomy in Action 

CGIAR’s Nature Positive Initiative supported circular bioeconomy solutions like biogas and insect-based feed where over 11,000 farmers benefited from training on circular bio-economy methods. One significant example of these innovations has been the implementation of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) farming demonstration systems in Colombia, India, and Kenya. BSF farming, inexpensive to establish and easy to manage, transforms organic waste into frass, a nutrient-rich compost, and fly larvae, which serve as high-protein animal feed suitable for aquaculture. A BSF installation at an aggregated farm in Kenya (another NATURE+ innovation) is already a pillar of the farm’s multiple activities focused on community-led production and landscape restoration. This aggregated farming model in Kenya is another excellent example of market innovation in action, which not only enhances sustainability but also opens new business avenues. In this model, by clustering their farms and harmonizing production, smallholders have become more attractive to buyers and investors.  

This nature-positive solution addresses multiple challenges simultaneously: it reduces pollution, offers an affordable alternative to commercial feed, and enhances soil fertility with insect compost. Notably, the BSF farming hubs double as training centers for local people, including youth and women spreading skills in agroecological farming.  

Building Green Value Chains and Enterprises 

CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program is also directly nurturing agroecological enterprises through incubation and acceleration programs. Under the CGIAR Agroecology Initiative (now part of the MFL Science Program), three business incubator programs have been established – one self-supported and two in collaboration with partners – to help early-stage companies and cooperatives refine and grow their green business models. These incubators focus on enterprises that deliver environmental and social benefits, such as startups producing bio-inputs (organic fertilizers and biopesticides), companies making climate-resilient foods, or women-led cooperatives marketing nutrient-dense indigenous crops. Entrepreneurs receive training in business planning, financial management, and impact investment, as well as mentorship to scale up production sustainably.

 An example of these incubator programs is the acceleration mechanisms that connect more mature enterprises with investors. In West Africa, an agroecological accelerator has helped a composting business secure financing to expand its capacity, thereby increasing the production of organic fertilizer for sale from organic waste. By 2025, these programs aim to have supported dozens of SMEs (small and medium enterprises), strengthening local green economies. The presence of viable eco-friendly businesses creates jobs and supply chains that keep value in rural areas, all while incentivizing practices like agroforestry, organic farming, and renewable energy use. A value chain analyses showed positive impacts on more than 3.200 families. Ten small, local enterprises in six countries received financial and technical support through incubation and acceleration pilot programs, leading to the development of projects valued at up to USD 1.2 million each. Market and finance sector actors are key partners in designing and deploying innovations that support the transition to thriving multifunctional landscapes. Through incubators and public-private partnerships, MFL SP is making sure these actors have the knowledge and tools to invest in sustainability. 

 Incentives for Ecosystem Services and Fair Markets

Markets can also reward farmers for the environmental services their land management provides. MFL researchers are exploring mechanisms such as payments for ecosystem services (PES) and climate finance that could flow into multifunctional landscapes. A CGIAR Nature Positive Initiative innovation, the “My Farm Trees” digital platform, utilizes blockchain technology to connect smallholder farmers engaged in tree planting and restoration with sponsors or restoration investment matching. Pilots have been successfully conducted in Kenya and Cameroon, with current scaling efforts underway in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The platform records trees planted by farmers (using geotagged data) and issues digital tokens or credits that companies or donors can purchase, effectively paying farmers for sequestering carbon and restoring biodiversity. This creates a transparent market for restoration outcomes, giving farmers a direct financial motive to grow native trees on their land. Early users of My Farm Trees have been enthusiastic about the prospect of earning supplemental income through what used to be unpaid conservation labor. Similarly, in Latin America, the CGIAR initiative Transformational Agroecology across Food, Land, and Water Systems worked with coffee and cocoa farmers to certify biodiversity-friendly produce and gain price premiums. By tapping into specialty markets (for example, bird-friendly coffee or deforestation-free cocoa), farmers who maintain forest patches and agroforestry systems can secure better prices for their crops. These models show how consumer preferences for sustainability, when effectively linked to producers, can drive positive change on the ground.

Beyond niche markets, mainstream value chains are also being targeted for transformation. In Southern Tunisia, for instance, the Livestock and Climate Initiative has introduced an innovation in animal feed: making feed pellets from locally available crop residues and agro-industrial byproducts. This not only upcycles waste (a circular economy approach) but also reduces feed costs for livestock farmers. Another example comes from Zimbabwe and India, where farmers have adopted bio-pesticides and biofertilizers to combat pests like the fall armyworm and improve soil health. As these bio-inputs – innovations from the CGIAR Agroecology Initiative prove effective, local agri-dealers and cooperatives are starting to produce and sell them, creating a budding market that undercuts expensive chemical inputs. MFL SP will continue to support such developments by providing evidence of efficacy and by convening stakeholders – e.g., training private extension agents in the use of bio-inputs or helping draft quality standards so that farmers can trust these new products. The question driving this work is: “How can fair and inclusive market mechanisms and business models capture the economic and non-economic values of ecosystem services, attract finance, and incentivize equitable generation of multiple benefits?”. Each pilot, whether it’s carbon credits for trees, premium prices for sustainable crops, or cost savings from circular products, offers a piece of the answer.

Linking Economic Opportunity with Ecological Stewardship

 The MFL Science Program is demonstrating that profitability and sustainability can go hand in hand in rural landscapes. By redesigning markets and business models, it shifts the narrative from “conservation vs. development” to “conservation as development.” Farmers and communities are discovering new revenue streams tied to regenerative practices, and companies are finding opportunities in green ventures. Crucially, the program’s emphasis on inclusive business models ensures that smallholders, women, and marginalized groups can participate in and benefit from these market innovations. Whether through cooperative action, social entrepreneurship, or incentive payments, the common thread is aligning economic incentives with ecological outcomes. This not only accelerates the adoption of innovations (because people see real benefits) but also makes those innovations self-sustaining in the long run. With improved access to markets, finance, and value-added opportunities, communities are better equipped to invest in the health of their land. As these examples show, thriving multifunctional landscapes require thriving rural economies, and MFL SP’s market-centric innovations are helping build exactly that, fostering a new class of green businesses and value chains that reward stewardship of land, water, and biodiversity.

Author: Regina Edward-Uwadiale