USING TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE COFFEE

SUSTAINABILITY AND RURAL RESILIENCE

Presentation to AFCA Expo, Zanzibar

31 October 2019

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EAST AFRICA’S WORLD MARKET SHARE IN COFFEE IS DECLINING

Decline of African coffee production

Kenya Coffee Yield & Production

Evidenced by Kenya’s decline in

production from 128,000 bags

per harvest in 1986 to 45,000

bags in 2018.

Africa’s share of World coffee production has

been in long term decline. Given the majority of

coffee is grown by smallholder farmers the key to

reversing this is in transforming their productive

capacity, resilience and crop yields.

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FIVE MAJOR THREATS TO EAST AFRICAN COFFEE PRODUCTION

1. Competition from the World’s coffee powerhouses in South America and Asia

– key fact: yield in Africa is well below the global average

2. Climate change

– key fact: erratic rainfall and drought lead to declining yields

3. Pests and disease

– key fact: threat of diseases and pests have risen in line with climate change

4. Attractiveness of smallholder farming

– key fact: average age of farmers in Kenya is 51+

5. Rural resilience

– key trends: youth migration to cities, perceptions of traditional farming, little use of technology

Tackling these five threats with practical solutions, in a holistic fashion, can and will have

a major impact on Africa’s prospects as a coffee powerhouse in its own right.

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EAST AFRICA MUST FIND A WAY TO COMPETE ON YIELD AS WELL AS QUALITY

African Arabicas are recognized for their quality and can do well in specialty and premium

sectors. But South America and Asia currently achieve much higher yields than East Africa:

The ICO attributed this variation to poor farming practices. It stated: “Less than 10% of

smallholders in Africa use crop protection or fertilisers, and most tend not to utilise basic

agronomic techniques”.

Vietnam 42 bags

per hectare

Brazil23 bags

per hectare

Global Average 17 bags

per hectare

Ethiopia 8 bags

per hectare

Source: ICO 2016

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THEORY OF CHANGE – NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Climate

change

Unpred-

ictable

weather

patterns

Increased

risk of

pest &

disease

Crop

manage-

ment

complexity

Ineffective

use of

inputs

Declining

tree health

and yields

Unsustain-

able

farmer

incomes

Declining

rural

resilience

Sustainability

under threat

Climate change drives

a cycle of negative

effects that ultimately

leads to declining rural

resilience to the impact

of that climate change

on smallholder coffee

farming. We must find

innovative solutions

that arrest the decline

and put it into reverse.

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FINDING HOLISTIC SOLUTIONS – THEORY OF POSITIVE CHANGE

Any solution must have the following key objectives:

1. Address the challenges of climate change for

smallholder farmers through more precise and timely

crop management and decision making

• Increase coffee yields

• Improve coffee quality

• Sustainable farmer incomes

2. Make smallholder coffee farming attractive and

rewarding for the next generation

3. Take a broad approach that factors in the

community’s needs and builds collective resilience

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THE ACCORD PROGRAMME

ACCORD, or Advanced Coffee Crop Optimisation for Rural Development, is led by UK

Earth Observation and insights company Earth-i, working with partners WeatherSafe,

CMS, Kinini and San Francisco Bay Coffee in Kenya and Rwanda, and in association with

the UK Space Agency and IPP programme, to deliver the timely, trusted insights needed

to improve coffee yields and quality, and ultimately the incomes of smallholder farmer.

• 36,000 fields mapped to date in Kenya & Rwanda,

over 30,000 in Kenya

• Weather forecasting & alerts underway to farmers

• Programme funded to Feb 2021

• Goal to make the service commercially sustainable

beyond that date

• Opportunity to extend this to other crops

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WORKING CLOSELY WITH OUR AFRICAN COFFEE PARTNERS

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THE TECHNOLOGY

MAPPING & MONITORING FIELDS USING SATELLITES

• Maps individual fields using GPS coordinates, and a mix of medium and very high resolution EO data from the Planet,

DMC3 and KOMPSAT satellite constellations to overlay satellite imagery

• Apply NDVI analysis to monitor the health of crops in individual fields

• Variation in field sizes and their irregularity, means EO imagery is particularly suited to the task of mapping and monitoring

these fields

THE WEATHERSAFE PLATFORM

• Provides a portal for agronomists and

farmers to access field and crop health

data.

• Integrates climate data from local

ground stations

• Provides highly accurate and localised

weather forecasts and agonomical

advice

• Sent to farmers via simple to

understand SMS texts on a daily basis.

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HOW IT WORKS

Sophisticated satellite mapping and monitoring

technology and climate data…

…delivering decision-support to smallholder

farmers via simple-to-understand SMS text

messaging to mobile phones

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OUR VISION IS A RISK MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR RURAL RESILIENCE

“Through its

innovative integrated

climate risk

management

approach, R4

enables the poorest

farmers to access

crop insurance by

participating in risk

reduction

activities.”

R4 Rural Resilience Programme

World Food Programme

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AN INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR SMALLHOLDER FARMERS?

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TOMORROW’S FARMER… TODAY!

• Technology-enabled

• Data-driven

• Precision decision-making

• Optimised inputs

• High yields

• Income stable

• Resilient

• Future proof!

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THANK YOU

Telephone (UK): +44 (0)333 433 0015

Email: info@earthi.co.uk

Web: www.earthi.space

Earth-i Ltd

10 Nugent Road, Surrey Research Park,

Guildford, GU2 7AF, United Kingdom.

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