Smallholder Voices Are Critical in Ethical Supply Chains

The Farmer Thriving Index — a holistic, standardized way of understanding farmer wellbeing that is grounded in farmer voice — set out to answer a simple question: Are farmers in coffee supply chains thriving, or barely surviving?

Brand Provided | By Ellie Turner | Published 2 months ago | About a 5 minute read

Image: Yaroslav Astakhov

Despite the rising demand for coffee globally, nearly half of all coffee-growing households still live below the poverty line. Some research estimates that proportion to be as high as 80 percent. More than half the world’s coffee is grown on small family farms by 12 million smallholder producers who rely on coffee for their livelihood. These farmers and their crops are vulnerable to the changing climate — with models predicting that land suitable for coffee cultivation could be cut in half by 2050 — and to fluctuating global coffee prices.

Leading coffee brands collectively invest millions of dollars in programs and certifications aimed at improving the lives of these farmers. For the conscious consumer, this abundance of schemes can be overwhelming — grocery store shelves are lined with bags of coffee featuring certification logos, photos of farmers, and claims of social responsibility. Despite this surge in concern for farmer wellbeing across these programs and certifications, the farmers’ own perspective on their wellbeing is rarely incorporated.

In 2023, 60 Decibels — a leading social-performance measurement company — set out to test if a standardized measure of farmer wellbeing could increase supply chain transparency and help companies remain accountable to the farmers they work with. In partnership with the Small Foundation and coffee roasters including Counter Culture and Thanksgiving Coffee, 60 Decibels launched the Farmer Thriving Index — a holistic, clear, standardized way of understanding farmer wellbeing that is grounded in farmer voice. We set out to answer a simple question: Are farmers in coffee supply chains thriving, or barely surviving?

We conducted 15-minute phone interviews with more than 3,000 farmers in Uganda and Rwanda — asking farmers about their food security, resilience, living standards and outlook on coffee farming — and recently published a report summarizing the results. Here are a few things that stood out:

Profitability is not a given for all coffee producers.

More than a third of Ugandan coffee farmers say that they did not earn a profit last year, with 21 percent saying they made a loss in their farming. Growers are vulnerable to market fluctuations and climate conditions, which makes harvest seasons unpredictable.

Half of the coffee farmers surveyed are vulnerable to financial shocks.

46 percent of Ugandan farmers report not saving at all in the last 12 months, and 22 percent saved sporadically, or once every few months. When asked about how easy or difficult it would be for them to access funds in an emergency, a similar proportion of farmers said it would be challenging.

Access to critical services is low.

Only 19 percent of the Uganda coffee farmers we spoke to have reliable access to agricultural extension which promotes adoption of resilient agronomic practices.

Yet, farmers aren’t giving up on coffee.

Nearly all farmers surveyed expect to produce coffee for at least the next 5-10 years. To assess how farmers perceive the longevity of their livelihoods, we asked whether they would like their children to grow coffee as adults. 81 percent of farmers strongly agreed; 73 percent of growers plan on increasing their investment in coffee for the upcoming seasons primarily by expanding their land or adopting better practices or inputs.

More than half of coffee producers are food secure.

Overall, 57 percent of Ugandan coffee farmers are classified to be experiencing ‘minimal’ food insecurity, as per IPC definitions.

Coffee processing adds value for farmers.

55 percent of Ugandan farmers report selling most of their coffee as parchment while the remaining sold most of their harvest as raw cherries. Selling coffee processed as parchment is correlated with farmers receiving better prices and reporting profitability. These outcomes have a downstream relationship with farmers’ financial resilience: parchment sellers are more likely to be saving regularly and can afford emergencies easily, compared to their peers selling raw cherries. Their households are also more food secure.

Participating cooperatives are enabling farmer wellbeing.

Farmers associated with the four Uganda cooperatives that participated in the study are significantly more likely to report reliable access to at least one essential service, compared to the average Ugandan farmer (80 percent vs. 51 percent). Expectedly, agricultural extension access is much more prevalent among cooperative farmers: nearly all of them report adopting at least one resilient agronomic practice — with high adoption of intercropping, composting and water conservation. They are also more likely to report receiving good prices, earning a profit, saving regularly and affording emergencies with ease.

Coffee producers — much like cups of coffee — vary widely. Even within Uganda, altitudes, microclimates, varieties and access to services change the lived experience of growing coffee. With that in mind, the only universal recommendation we can offer to improve farmer wellbeing is this: Listen to farmers directly. They know if they are thriving or barely surviving, and they know what they need.

That being said, we did learn a few things that, once contextualized, offer practical guidance on how to further support farmer wellbeing. These insights align with conventional wisdom in smallholder farming systems — but hearing them directly from farmers reflecting on their own wellbeing should underscore their importance:

Expand training and advisory. Across Uganda, access to extension and information services is low. This is a critical service that contributes to productivity and resilience across crops and contexts.
Support coffee processing. Processing is called 'value addition' for a reason! While we cannot directly attribute wellbeing to processing, we did find that farmers selling coffee as parchment are generally better off. Processing typically requires equipment or infrastructure, like a washing station, that may be shared among a group of farmers.

This initiative was a pilot, to test the concept and demonstrate the power of standardized measurement grounded in farmer voice. 60 Decibels is now exploring opportunities to scale up the Farmer Thriving Index with additional coffee companies, and in other smallholder-led supply chains.

Ellie Turner

Ellie Turner is Head of Agriculture at 60 Decibels — a global, tech-enabled impact-measurement company that brings speed and scalability to social-impact measurement and customer insights.

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Agriculture