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

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

Problem

Limited access to affordable agricultural practices: Farmers with limited resources struggle to adopt recommended practices when these require large investments at once.
Limited access to tailored knowledge: Farmers lack guidance that connects agricultural recommendations with their local conditions, resources and aspirations.
Poor fit between interventions and local conditions: Agricultural interventions that do not account for agro-ecological conditions reduce the effectiveness of investments.
Low productivity and livelihood constraints: Low yields limit the potential for improved farm income and livelihood outcomes.
Limited capacity to build climate resilience: Farmers lack the resources and knowledge needed to adopt climate-smart practices and respond to changing rainfall patterns.

Solution

Affordable practice packages: Stepwise divides costly agricultural practices into smaller packages that are more accessible to farmers.
Tailored agricultural guidance: The approach considers farmer needs, aspirations and agro-ecological conditions when guiding investment decisions.
Site-specific pathways: Development programmes can adapt investment pathways to local conditions through stakeholder and district-level workshops.
Progressive investment: Farmers are guided to introduce practices in stages according to their resources and the timing of implementation.
Climate resilience support: Stepwise guides farmers toward climate-smart practices and strengthens their capacity to respond to changing climate conditions.

Key points to design your program

The Stepwise Climate Smart Investment Pathway enables farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices through affordable, phased investments tailored to their needs and local conditions. The approach can be integrated into climate resilience, sustainable agriculture, livelihood improvement, and value chain development programs. Its adoption contributes to SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and 13 (Climate Action).

To integrate this technology into your project, plan and budget for the following activities and prerequisites:

Assess farmer needs, climate risks, agro-ecological conditions, and production challenges in target communities.
Facilitate access to climate-smart technologies, extension services, and affordable investment packages adapted to local farming systems.
Support training for farmers, cooperatives, extension agents, women’s groups, and youth agripreneurs on climate-smart agriculture, farm planning, and incremental investment approaches.
Invest in demonstration plots, extension services, digital advisory tools, and climate information systems to promote awareness and adoption.
Promote phased and affordable investments that allow farmers to gradually adopt improved practices according to their resources and production goals.
Support the participation of women and youth in climate-smart agriculture and resilience-building activities.
Establish partnerships with IITA, research institutes, extension services, financial institutions, cooperatives, and private sector actors to support scaling and sustainability.
Track key indicators such as adoption of climate-smart practices, crop yields, farmer incomes, resilience to climate shocks, and number of farmers reached.

IP

Open source / open access

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.