Change Brewing - carbon low coffee being produced in Uganda

Our Approach

Supported by the AGRI3 Fund  technical assistance facility and managed by IDH , the Changing Brewing Consortium brings together agro-commodities trader ETG and the biochar specialists NGI, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. The focus of this consortium is to establish sustainable coffee farming in Uganda by supporting 2000 coffee farmers. This is done by enhancing climate resilience and improving coffee yields as well as increasing farmers’ incomes by 20-30% in Masaka and Bukomansimbi. This project works towards improving the living conditions of the smallholder coffee farmers and scaling-up responsible sourcing of coffee across Uganda.

ETG being the lead partner, facilitates the project activities, distribution of biodigesters, set-up of coffee and tree nurseries and off-taking of carbon-low coffee. NGI runs soil and carbon experiments to find the best ratios of biochar, bio-slurry and traditional fertilizer to improve soil health. Rikolto, supports in the implementation of carbon low farming practices including trainings on climate-smart coffee farming, agroforestry demonstrations (20 demo-plots) and distributions of shade trees(20,000 shade tree seedlings). Rikolto has set-up 20 Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) and builds their capacities on gender empowerment and business skills using GALS methodology.

To address the above-mentioned challenges, the project runs different activities and interventions in the Massaka region, by providing farmers and local communities with the knowledge and skills needed to adopt sustainable and low carbon farming practices, while also empowering women, promoting financial inclusion, and enhancing soil health and carbon sequestration. These activities are designed to provide technical assistance and expertise for the farmers in the region to overcome these challenges and ensure the successful implementation of the project.

• To address the challenge of traceability, the project locates and onboards farmer groups, registers farmers to farmer groups and maps coffee plots. Together with the farmers, the plotpolygons (i.e., mapping ofcoffee farms with GPS coordinates) ondeforestation are being analyzed.
• Trainings on low carbon farming practices are given, which provides farmers with the skills and knowledge to implement low carbon farming practices, including the correct application of biochar and composting techniques. This training will equip farmers with the skills needed to reduce their carbon footprint while enhancing crop yields and soil health. The project combines carbon insetting and sustainable certification. At the core of this project is our innovative work with biochar and bio-slurry.  Biochar is seen as ahigh-potential innovation to capture carbon in soils. However, alongside bio-slurry can be useful ingredients in organic fertilizers.
• Setting up demonstration agroforestry plots to showcase the benefits of integrating shade trees with coffee cultivation, helps farmers to gain more insights and knowledge about agroforestry.This will educate farmers about the advantages of agroforestry, including improved biodiversity, soil fertility, and resilience to climate change.
• The project supports participating farmers in conducting comprehensive soil analysis and monitoring to assess soi lhealth and provide customized recommendations to farmers. This will help optimize soil management practices, leading to increased yields and improved carbon sequestration (i.e., removal of carbon from atmosphere and storage in plants, soil etc.) potential.
• To empower community members, especially women, Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) savings groups are implemented within local communities. This is stimulated by promoting financial literacy, savings, and access to credit, ultimately improving livelihoods and reducing deforestation.
• Providing training sessions on gender empowerment and business skills, particularly focusing on women, will enhance farmers’ capacity to make informed decisions, participate in income-generating activities, and contribute to more balanced household decision-making.
• The training programs on the production and application of biochar and bio composting techniques will learn farmers how to create these products and apply them effectively to improve soil health, carbon sequestration, and crop yields.

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