Train farmers in coffee agronomy practices to boost productivity.
TechnoServe aims to provide sustainable, business-driven solutions to poverty. This project is built on TechnoServe’s Coffee Farm College to support coffee farmers in sustainably increasing the yield of their coffee farms but adds aspects of income diversification and post-harvest quality.
Approach
The project builds on TechnoServe’s core approach, the two-year Coffee Farm College. This group-based training approach with theoretical and practical lessons on good agricultural practices aims to increase coffee productivity and climate-resilience of coffee farms.
Within this project, the Coffee Farm College is accompanied by:
- Stumping incentives to increase adoption and intensity of stumping
- Beekeeping trainings to diversify farmers’ income
- Training and coaching of coffee washing stations to enhance coffee quality and prices
The project aims for the following impact:
- Higher household income
- 40% of trained households adopt at least two additional best practices
- 60% of trained households stump at least 50 trees
- Beekeeping households increase their income from honey and wax by 1.000 ETB
- Increase in average cherry price by 10% in comparison to non-participating coffee-washing stations
Activities are implemented in relevant coffee-growing area of Jimma zone, especifically in Gumay, Gomma and Gera Woredas.
EVALUATION & LEARNING
The project is externally evaluated by the International Food and Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) via a quasi-experimental study design (Difference-in-Difference combined with propensity score matching).
The evaluation addresses the following research questions:
- What is the (causal) impact of the program on key outcomes, including: (a) uptake and adoption of best agronomic and farm management practices; (b) coffee production and productivity; and (c) income of smallholder coffee farmers?
- What is the impact of incentive provisions on stumping adoption and intensity both in the short and mid-term?
- What is the potential of beekeeping as an additional/complementary income generating activity for coffee producing households?
- How do these impacts vary along demographic and socio-economic conditions?
In addition, within the first cohort, the combination of group-based and individual on-farm training is tested as an alternative training mode.
Projected Return – Model Explanation
Under the base case, the model reaches an SROI of 6.3; under conservative assumptions it drops to 2.5. The impact model draws on endline data from the first project cohort (C22) — evaluated using a difference-in-difference design with known limitations in group comparability — combined with forecast assumptions for the second cohort (C23), making this a semi-forecast SROI.
The two assumptions that most strongly influence the result are the future coffee price development and yield benefits of stumping — the latter based on TechnoServe’s own yield model, which we treat as optimistic pending independent validation.
An yield study commissioned by HWG and conducted by IFPRI is currently underway, with results expected in 2026–2027. Endline (C23) results are expected in late 2026. Both studies will inform a model update.
All model figures represent present value over 10 years, discounted at 10%, deflated to 2021 EUR.
Learn more about our SROI methodology here.
This articles explores the outcomes of the Jimma Coffee Program and how its Social Return on Investment is expected to exceed significantly a previously funded program in Sidama.
RESOURCES
Dig deeper into the results and get in contact in case of questions!