SDM case study: ECOM SMS, Kenya

ECOM SMS (SMS) operates as a marketing agent in the Kenya coffee value chain working with nearly 46,000 smallholder farmers spread across 48 Famer cooperative Societies (FCS). Due to the high competitiveness of the sector, SMS’s main objective is to increase their market share by providing a wide range of services to FCS (and thereby to the farmers) with the aim to address farmers' needs and improve FCS loyalty.

This report looks into the profitability of SMS to provide those services ( including market access, dry milling, storage, training, certification, inputs and finance), as well as the potential of implementing regenerative agriculture practices at farm-level. As part of this regenerative agriculture project, SMS awarded their most loyal FCS and invested in 5,000 farmers to cultivate macadamia and avocado trees and integrate dairy on their farms, next to beans, maize and banana, unlocking new profits and improving the sustainability of the farming system.

This study was undertaken as part of the Coffee Farmer Income Resilience Programme (CFIRP) and therefore has a particular focus on higher and more resilient coffee smallholder farm income through diversified farming systems and improved soil health.