This Acorn project, run by our partner Solidaridad in Kenya, supports over 7,500 smallholder coffee farmers in Bungoma, Kericho, Nandi, Transzoia in the southwestern region of Kenya.
Smallholder coffee farmers in the region live in moderate poverty levels, with a UNDP Human Development Indicator of 0.575. Farmers in the area have an average of 0,59 hectares.
In general, an average income does not guarantee access to all meals a day and only some are able to provide education for their family. On top of this, many of the farmers are remotely located and this translates into a lack of electricity, information, internet, phone network, safe drinking water, and so on. It also means there is little access to roads, health care, and schools. These challenges are exacerbated by a gradual increase in population growth and subsequent increasing demand for food and natural resources.
With coffee being the region's main crop, coffee pests and diseases pose a serious risk. Beyond that, low coffee prices and low yield impact farmers: these are low mostly due to the quality of coffee produced, as farmers need to build the capacity for effective post-harvest handling techniques and crops suffer from soil erosion and leaching of minerals, resulting from poor conservation agricultural practices and poor climate-smart agriculture practices (CSA). However, communities have now been trained on CSA. Being aware of the impacts of climate change, they are eager to overcome and reverse these trends.
Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation established in 1969 that aims to create fair and sustainable supply chains. With 55 years of experience in developing solutions to make communities more resilient, they operate in over 40 countries worldwide to enable farmers, mines and workers to earn a decent income, shape their own future, and produce in balance with nature.
To scale the Acorn project’s reach, Solidaridad conducts farmer trainings through a system of “training of trainers” and the current governance structures of producer organizations. This way, lead farmers are in charge of spreading knowledge to other participants. Additionally, Solidaridad will set up 2 Rural Resources Centres per sub region, which will act as local knowledge hubs to share and spread agroforestry dedicated knowledge. These local community hubs will be operated on a voluntary basis by lead farmers. It will be at these hubs where co-learning will be promoted by setting up demo plots. Next to the activities supported by the community, Solidaridad will bring in expertise knowledge through agroforestry extension experts with the help of the Carbon Farming Academy and other universities. With their help, Solidaridad will develop the teaching material and content to be used for the farmers and lead farmers trainings.
While farmers in these regions had pre-existing agroforestry on their plots, they lacked proper design and management practices, as well as funds to scale or transition their existing systems. Carbon finance via the Acorn project can help provide farmers with benefits and opportunities to overcome economic and social bottlenecks when implementing agroforestry, which allows farmers to build and develop capacity at a community level to ensure long-term benefits and set the basis for further scaling and spreading of agroforestry in the region. The income generated through carbon finance is instrumental for farmers to face costs, such as seedlings, inputs and training. At the same time, the Acorn project support Solidaridad to subsidize the price of seedlings and germplasm to ensure affordability for farmers and further tree planting.
The project also aims to develop the basis for long-term improvement of smallholder livelihoods. The increase in revenue from coffee yield and carbon credits would allow more money to be spent on nutritious food for the family. The generated carbon credits can enable participants to improve their livelihoods and afford the maintenance of their farms, education, food, and to have stability in times of financial and economic struggles, all while enhancing the participation and shared decision-making of women along the agroforestry and coffee value chain.
The project has already undertaken the following activities:
Click the links below to download the project's certification documents.
