SDGP Kenya: Developing a low-carbon coffee value-chain This value-chain intervention will develop and invest in: a. Low-Carbon specialty
coffee by upgrading and lowering the carbon footprint of farmers  washing stations
and dry-mill  b. Sustainable intensification practises leading to food security 
resilience and higher income of smallholder farmers located around Mt. Kenya  c.
local value-addition and job-creation for women and youth in Mt. Kenya region by
setting up local production-facilities of bio-compost  d. local value-addition and jobcreation
for women and youth by roasting and packaging at origin.Moyee Coffee will invest in developing a low-carbon specialty coffee  roasted and packaged in Kenya  providing a market linkage for smallholder farmers. Agriterra will select and support high-potential Primary Cooperatives (PC’s) to produce this sustainable coffee and support the PCs in governance  financial management and women and youth participation. Furthermore  Agriterra will train the extension officers and lead-farmers on low-carbon farming practices and setting up bio-compost producing facilities at PC’s.The Fairchain Foundation will provide its FC Tech programs  which include solutions such as digital farm-management and training programs  traceability and transactions marketplaces using blockchain technology. Blockchain-technology will be used to connect all stakeholders in the supply-chain and enable value-transfers from consumers to impact-projects (i.e. tree-planting  healthcare  womenempowering  education etc.) thus directly benefiting local livelihood. Blockchain will also be used to report on the actual reduction of carbon for each stakeholder due to project-interventions  thus giving measurable and verifiable proof of impact which is backing the claim of low-carbon coffee. Strategies for climate-smart and low-carbon agricultural practices such as intercropping  to ensure food security  will be provided by KALRO (Coffee Research Institute)  and implemented by partners and beneficiary PCs and farmers.MCCMCU  the only farmer-led and farmer-owned coffee mill in Kenya  will provide local value-addition of the low-carbon specialty coffee  set up an organic demo farm and nursery for intercropping trees to support the project. Developing a low-carbon Coffee Value-Chain in Kenya Kenya’s rich endowment of volcanic soils  altitude  rainfall and temperatures enables the country to produce high-quality arabica coffee that is rated among the best in the world. The sector contributes to the livelihoods of over 700 000 smallholder growers and 5 million beneficiaries  as well as providing substantial foreign exchange earnings.
Yet  Kenya’s coffee sector is facing unprecedented challenges which have dramatically affected the production levels. Key among them:
a. Exceptionally long payment periods for coffee farmers (over 6 months)
b. Low global coffee prices; expected to remain low for years to come.
c. Lack of direct access to the international market.
d. focus and dependency on cash-crops
Based on FairChain’s experience running a smallholder program  and doing extensive research  we came to the conclusion that current programs will not lead to a living income for a majority of small farmers. The higher prices that impact-driven coffee brands like Moyee (+20%) can absorb  plus the income increase from yield and quality improvement programs are insufficient to push incomes to living-income levels.
The farmer training approach places 7 200 farmers on a Living Income Roadmap  in order for all coffee producing households - each with different starting points in terms of land size  household income  motivation and agricultural and business skills - to benefit from the targeted interventions.
Involving farmers in creating a low-carbon coffee  focusing on gender equality  and giving them access to markets  will bring many families to a living income.
Moyee coffee will pay a 20% higher price  and directly ‘at the gate’ for cherry instead of after 6 months for clean coffee at the auction. The farmer will receive a higher  set price and save on the cost of credit  credit that many farmers have to take to bridge the 6 month payment period.
The farmers will be included in a training program led by Agriterra  on good agriculture and climate-smart practices  soil-fertility and bio-composting practices and intercropping strategies. Locally tested and proved climate-smart agricultural practices will be provided by KALRO’s Coffee Research Institute.
Fairchain Foundation will provide digital farm-management software  with data feeding the training program  for optimizing yields and increasing foodsecurity in a climate-smart approach. This approach is used to continuously monitor farm sizes  numbers  age and ‘categories’ of trees (cash/food)  other variables affecting production  and to create individual farm development plans  based on yield and income increase predictions  used to motivate farmers to adopt the new practices.
Primary Cooperatives will receive support from Agriterra in the areas of governance  financial management and women and youth participation.
Local value-adding investments will be made in washing station modernization  roasting and packaging facility and storage. State-of-the-art equipment will be installed to replace fossil-fuel-based energy sources (i.e. bio-compost production  biogas installation  husk-briquettes  solar).
A traceability system using blockchain technologies  will be implemented  to make the farmers visible in the chain  up to the Western consumers  and to prove the value distribution by registering all transactions in the chain. This system will build a trustworthy and bankable value chain  improving access to markets and finance.