Stepwise Climate Smart Investment Pathway

Accessible best agricultural practices for everyone

The Stepwise Climate Smart Investment Pathway (Stepwise) is an approach that breaks down the recommended best practices that many farmers cannot afford to implement into smaller, more affordable packages that can be implemented in phases. Stepwise considers specific agro-ecological variables and farmer needs and aspirations to guide incremental investment by the farmer in specific sets of, and timing of practices. This incremental investment is expected to subsequently increase coffee yields in a stepwise manner.

This technology is TAAT1 validated.

5•4

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 5/9; level of use 4/9

IP

Open source / open access

Problem

High cost of improved farming practices: Farmers face high upfront costs for practices such as improved fertilizer use and irrigation, limiting investment in productivity-enhancing practices.
Limited access to appropriate agricultural guidance: Farmers lack practical guidance to select practices that match their production conditions and business objectives.
Poor fit between practices and local conditions: Farming practices that do not match local agro-ecological conditions result in poor crop performance and inefficient use of investments.
Low coffee yields: Limited access to appropriate practices, knowledge and resources contributes to low coffee yields and weak farm performance.
Limited capacity to adapt to climate change: Farmers lack the resources and knowledge needed to invest in practices that maintain production under changing rainfall conditions.

Solution

Affordable investment packages: Stepwise breaks costly farming practices into smaller packages that are more affordable to implement.
Tailored guidance: The approach guides farmers in selecting practices according to local conditions and their needs.
Better-targeted investments: Stepwise considers agro-ecological conditions before guiding investment decisions, reducing the risk of unsuitable practices.
Incremental productivity improvement: Farmers implement practices progressively, with investments adapted to their resources and timing.
Climate-smart investments: The approach guides farmers toward practices such as drought-resistant varieties, water conservation and crop diversification to strengthen production resilience.

Key points to design your business plan

In this section, you will soon discover essential elements to develop your business plan. You'll find a brief list of important questions to consider before launching your business, along with information on the technology's value proposition, target audience, key resources, strategic partners, and cost structure. This compilation will assist you in evaluating the various crucial aspects to ensure the success of your business.

In the meantime, use the 'Request information' button if you need to contact us.

Adults 18 and over: Positive medium

The poor: Positive low

Under 18: No impact

Women: Positive medium

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

Farmer climate change readiness: Moderate improvement

Biodiversity: No impact on biodiversity

Carbon footprint: Same amount of carbon released

Environmental health: Does not improve environmental health

Soil quality: Does not affect soil health and fertility

Water use: Same amount of water used

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology's development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology's readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 5 out of 9

Controlled environment: model or early prototype

Level of use 4 out of 9

By some projects connected to technology providers

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Ghana	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Uganda	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid
Semiarid
Subhumid
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 2: zero hunger

Goal 8: decent work and economic growth

Goal 10: reduced inequalities

Goal 15: life on land

Identification of Recommended Best Practices: Identify the recommended best practices that are often unaffordable for many farmers to implement.
Breaking Down into Smaller, Affordable Packages: Deconstruct these practices into smaller, more manageable and cost-effective packages.
Phased Implementation Strategy: Design a phased implementation plan to incorporate these smaller packages in stages.
Assessment of Agro-Ecological Variables and Farmer Needs: Consider specific agro-ecological variables and the needs of the farmers.
Guiding Incremental Investment: Guide farmers on incremental investment in specific sets of practices according to their requirements and the timing of implementation.
Informing Smallholder Farmers: Provide information to smallholder farmers regarding the most efficient incremental investments needed to improve coffee yields and enhance their livelihoods.
Increasing Awareness and Knowledge: Increase awareness and knowledge about climate-smart agricultural practices, contributing to the resilience of smallholder farmers.
Informing Public and Private Sectors: Inform both public and private sectors about more effective strategies for targeting extension support to smallholder coffee farmers.