Goumbook’s regenerative agriculture push aims to transform MENA’s arid farming landscape

Goumbook, a social enterprise based in the UAE and led by Tatiana Antonelli Abella, is really pushing to change how the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey (MENAT) region produces food by building a movement around regenerative agriculture that’s tailored specifically to the region’s needs. As reported by iGrowNews, the organization has shifted gears recently, from focusing mainly on raising awareness and offering corporate consulting, it’s now zeroing in on soil health, helping farmers transition, and fostering innovation. To that end, they kicked off the MENA Regenerative Agriculture Initiative in December 2023.

This new initiative aims to turn lofty climate commitments into concrete programs and projects. Goumbook explains that it includes a Venture Programme, a network of stakeholders, and an annual summit, all designed to promote science-backed solutions suitable for dry climates. The initiative is run in partnership with HSBC and Saudi Awwal Bank, with technical support from EIT Food, and it aligns with the United Nations Climate Change High Level Champions, the organization added.

Tatiana Antonelli Abella describes the challenge frankly: “Goumbook has been working towards sustainability and climate action in the UAE and beyond since 2009.” She highlights that MENA’s farming environment is unique. Less than 5% of land is arable, the region holds only about 1% of the world’s freshwater resources, and it’s dealing with tens of millions of hectares of land that’s been degraded. Climate models predict a rise of 1.5 to 3°C by 2050, which could mean more droughts, floods, and heatwaves. “You know,” she says, “MENA can’t just adopt agricultural practices from Europe or North America, it’s really going to need to forge entirely new approaches suited to arid climates.” (iGrowNews; Goumbook).

Goumbook is tackling this by adopting a systems thinking approach. Their Venture Programme, in particular, has caught more and more attention, it grew from 160 registrations in its first year to over 500 in its second. Participants come from 65 countries and include over 80 research institutions, the group mentioned, offering mentorship and grants, up to $20,000, for the top solutions. Among the winners of the initial MENAT Regenerative Agriculture Venture Programme were The Waste Lab from the UAE and several teams from KAUST, indicating a regional push for scientific and private-sector innovation, Goumbook reported.

What’s more interesting (and, honestly, promising) is that the on-the-ground practices promoted by the initiative are specifically designed for dry regions. These include selecting drought-tolerant and native crops like millet and sorghum; applying soil amendments such as compost, biochar, and microbial inoculants to improve water retention; practicing no-till farming and cover cropping to protect soil health; and deploying precision irrigation and soil sensors to use water more efficiently. “Honestly,” Tatiana states, “together, these methods can shift arid agriculture from a system that’s slowly wearing out the land into one that regenerates it instead,” ultimately making farms both more productive and resilient (iGrowNews).

However, scaling these practices isn’t straightforward. There are a bunch of barriers, economic, technical, and policy-related, that make it tough. Goumbook and some stakeholders gathered in Riyadh to discuss this, and they identified financial hurdles as critical. Transitioning to regenerative methods often means a temporary drop in income, and smallholders typically don’t have access to the right financial mechanisms. There are also technical challenges: limited access to professional training, mostly in languages other than Arabic, and a shortage of practical research tailored for farms. Policy-wise, subsidies still mostly favor conventional, input-heavy farming systems, and getting certification can be prohibitively expensive and complicated. Structural issues like land fragmentation, water conflicts, and political instability further complicate efforts. The conclusion? No single intervention will do the trick, farmers need support across the board, from finance and markets to policy and knowledge.

That said, there are tangible signs that scaling up could actually work. Demand for healthier, better-quality food is on the rise, and some established regional actors are already offering models worth copying. For instance, iGrowNews reports that SEKEM and the Egyptian Biodynamic Association have demonstrated long-term success. SEKEM has converted around 1,800 hectares of Egyptian desert into biodynamic farms since 1977, and the Egyptian Biodynamic Association has trained over 1,500 farmers while engaging tens of thousands of participants through its Economy of Love standards. These examples also show that blended revenue streams, combining productivity gains, supply-chain premiums, and potential future income from carbon and water services, can make the transition more viable, even before full-fledged carbon markets take off.

Looking ahead to 2035, Goumbook’s strategy mixes practical support with systems scaling. Their goal is to build an ecosystem around five main pillars: Education & Awareness, Advocacy, Research & Innovation, Scaling & Finance, and Demonstration & Adoption. Planned initiatives include developing an open-source soil database for the region, accelerator programs for researcher-led innovations, eco-restoration camps to bolster community resilience, and connecting farmers directly with investors interested in carbon farming. The ultimate vision? Position the Middle East and North Africa as a “global hub of excellence for arid-climate resilient agriculture,” Tatiana explained (iGrowNews; Goumbook).

The plan isn’t just land-centric, either. Goumbook is also expanding into the blue economy, the coastal and marine sectors. They’re set to host the MENA Oceans Summit in October 2025, under the patronage of the UAE’s ministry, to develop a MENA Ocean Action Agenda. This agenda aims to connect coastal resilience, blue economy regeneration, and transboundary cooperation with terrestrial restoration efforts, Goumbook noted.

For policymakers and investors, the main challenge now is simply getting things done. As Tatiana pointed out, the conversation has shifted from “does this work?” to “how do we fund these transitions and build the necessary infrastructure?” Mobilizing patient capital, aligning subsidies to support regenerative practices, increasing local-language applied research, and creating accessible certification systems and markets, all these factors will determine whether regenerative agriculture in MENA remains a promising pilot project or if it turns into a large-scale transformation. Goumbook’s approach, emphasizing coordination and ecosystem services, certainly provides a promising model. But whether they can scale quickly enough, especially to meet the region’s looming food, water, and climate challenges, will heavily depend on continued financial support and committed political leadership.

Source: Noah Wire Services