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2x
Yield of stumped trees expected after 3 years
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80%
Farmers stumping at scale
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> 80%
Farmers making compost
“Before the program, I used to just harvest coffee and feared activities like stumping or pruning because, at first, you lose your yield. The trainings helped me understand the importance of stumping and gave me the confidence to do it on my farm.”
The Challenge
Across smallholder coffee communities, yields persistently fall short of what the land can produce. Aging trees, depleted soils, and insufficient on-farm investment limit yields, with each constraint making the others harder to address. Without systematic farming practices and sufficient income to reinvest in farm management, farmers struggle to realize the productive potential of their land.
Soils lose nutrients with every harvest, and trees produce less as they age. Soil health can be rebuilt with compost or fertilizer, but without the right knowledge, few farmers see it as an investment worth making. Stumping—cutting trees back to their base—rejuvenates aging trees, but yields take at least three harvests to recover and exceed previous levels. Limited access to finance and information slows adoption of these practices, keeping yields low and resilience out of reach.
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Our Approach
Enveritas works with farmers in East Africa to encourage them to manage their farms more like businesses, systematically investing time and resources to raise yields and incomes. We use data to identify communities most in need, such as those with below-average yields and aging trees.
We are piloting phased, results-based incentives alongside farmer support and coaching, focusing on key drivers of productivity such as soil nutrition and tree rejuvenation. Farmers target the rejuvenation of one-fifth of their farm at a time, cycling through blocks year after year. Composting, mulching, and cover cropping help restore soil health, supplemented by inorganic fertilizers in Uganda. Incentives are used as a tool to unlock behavior change while we support farmers in the transition to long-term productivity.
Adoption of all practices is assessed on farms, and yields are tracked. We continuously refine the program to improve adoption and outcomes.
In Ethiopia
Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica coffee, yet yields among smallholders commonly fall below 300 kg of green coffee per hectare—well below those in comparable producing countries. Aging trees are a primary driver; less than 5% of farmers in typical target regions rejuvenate at any meaningful scale, resulting in many farms being well past their productive peak. Systematic nutrition practices are equally rare: Fewer than a quarter of farmers in Sidama produce compost, and just 1% do so in Jimma.
In our pilot, 80% of farmers stumped at scale in response to incentives. Over 90% produced enough compost to apply to all of their recently stumped trees.
In Uganda
More than half of Uganda’s estimated 2 million coffee-producing smallholders live in poverty, with yields typically around 250 kg/ha for Arabica and 400 kg/ha for Robusta. Less than 3% of farmers currently stump at scale. As in Ethiopia, support with rejuvenation and nutrition can double yields, though regional nuances require thoughtful adaptations. Uganda's biannual harvests mean coffee trees almost always carry cherries or flowers, raising the psychological barrier to rejuvenation. Inorganic fertilizers are used by only 15% of farmers, and application rates are well below what is required for to sustain household livelihoods. Our work in Uganda aims to change this status quo.
