Eight years ago, Fedila Hussein and Mustafa Tesfaye struggled to earn a living from coffee. Their coffee trees were old and were not producing enough to cover the living expenses of their family of six. After participating in a TechnoServe program, Fedila and Mustafa learned important techniques to improve their coffee yields. Today, their farm is flourishing, and they have seen a 23-fold increase in their coffee production.
Around the world, climate change is making it more difficult for smallholder farmers to grow coffee. Take our quiz to find out what kind of coffee fits you best, then learn how TechnoServe is helping preserve this coffee through improving farmers’ resilience to climate threats.
In part one of this new three-part series, Crop to Cup, learn how farmers in East Africa play a role in the coffee that ends up in consumers’ cups around the world, no matter how you take your coffee. Look out for parts two and three, which cover processing and quality control.
After growing up watching his family grow coffee on their land in the Sidama region of Ethiopia, Amanuel Belay followed suit. But years of repetitive farming practices dulled his success. An environmentally sustainable TechnoServe program changed all that – and encouraged Amanuel to start helping other farmers.
Food insecurity disproportionately affects women and other vulnerable populations – and the situation is worsening with COVID-19. See how two determined women in low-income countries found creative ways to improve their incomes and their families’ access to nutritious food.
Follow coffee farmer Noella Rwizibuka and her family as they go about their day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In East Africa, formal employment opportunities are often scarce, and entrepreneurship presents a path toward economic independence for many young women and men. TechnoServe is helping small shop owners in Kenya, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire become more profitable by connecting them with the knowledge, training, and tools they need to become successful retailers.
TechnoServe helps young people in the developing world access the information, capital, and markets they need to overcome tremendous obstacles and create their own economic opportunities. Today we are sharing the story of Mary Wacera, a 30-year-old entrepreneur from central Kenya who created her own successful agribusiness after participating in a TechnoServe program.
Ariana Day Yuen is a former TechnoServe Fellow who served in Ethiopia in 2015. After her time as a Fellow, she stayed on with the TechnoServe Ethiopia team for nearly three years. Today, she is the founder of an agroforestry enterprise that partners with smallholder farmers – starting in Ethiopia – to sustainably grow, process, and market premium forest-based products.
TechnoServe’s COVID-19 Impact Report examines how the pandemic disrupted key sectors of emerging economies and the livelihoods of those who work in them. Our second feature in our blog series on the report highlights the challenges food processors faced last year and the promising solutions that could help them maintain their key role in the value chain.
