Climate Curve

Primary Project Category:

Secondary Project Category:

Name of Project:

Year Project Originated:

Project Summary / Description:

Lesponix Collective is a community-driven network of solar-powered hydroponic and aquaponic farms in Lesotho that empowers youth, women, and local households to produce fresh herbs and vegetables sustainably while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our systems replace traditional soil-based farming, cutting fertilizer use, water consumption, and diesel-powered irrigation, and are highly resilient to drought, ensuring year-round production.
Currently, Lesponix actively manages 168 farms, serving over 2,500 beneficiaries across rural and peri-urban areas. Each farm produces fresh herbs and vegetables, which we process and add value to, improving local nutrition, generating income, and increasing market opportunities for participants. Through hands-on training, technical support, and collective knowledge-sharing, we create replicable, scalable models that enable rapid adoption by new communities.
Each farm avoids approximately 437 kg CO₂e per year by reducing fuel use, fertilizer emissions, and transport-related emissions. With 168 farms, the network currently prevents ~73 tCO₂e/year, and our plan to scale to 300 farms within 24 months will increase this impact to ~131 tCO₂e/year, amplifying both social and environmental benefits.
Lesponix is not only a mitigation solution but also a transformative approach to sustainable agriculture in under-resourced communities. By combining innovative farming technologies, drought resilience, value addition, community empowerment, and measurable climate action, our initiative exemplifies a scalable model for reducing emissions while fostering resilient, inclusive food systems immediately.

How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

['Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses)', 'Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)', 'Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)']

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Lesponix Collective is specifically established to empower marginalized groups within the broader climate movements, including women, youth, and rural Basotho who are most adversely affected by droughts, food insecurity, and lack of access to land, capital, and climate-resilient technology.

Our solar-powered hydroponic agro-forestry techniques require little land and water, making it and its products accessible and inclusive. Indeed, over 90% of the small-scale farmers participating in our program, including those for whom it is their first business, comprise women and youth. The initiative has been providing these groups with operational skills and networks that help them generate incomes while contributing towards climate mitigation.

Representation stretches from the beneficiaries to project governance and implementation. Women and younger professionals from local communities constitute the bulk of our field implementations. Farmers, on the other hand, are organized in local farming collectives that determine production and processing, as well as marketing. At Lesponix, we locate all aspects of climate action, from ownership to leadership, in the local communities, ensuring that climate action is scaled and equitable.