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Muddy Boots
HRNS Uganda partners with Impact Atlas to pioneer real-time tracking of farmer training
In Uganda, it’s estimated that over 10 million people depend on coffee for their livelihood, but here, productivity and coffee yields are among the lowest in the world. For 12 years, Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) has implemented projects that train smallholder...
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Wake up and smell the fries!
Grace Mbise and her husband are preparing their farm in west Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. But today, they are not working in their coffee fields. Grace grows both potatoes and coffee. “The cost of production for coffee and potatoes are almost the same”, she says. “But...
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How Stella Got Her Life Back On Track
If you look beyond Stella’s frail physique you will see an abundance of infinite strength and determination in her eyes... In the year 2007, life struck Stella a devastating blow with the loss of her husband who was the family's main bread winner. In spite of the...
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Colombian Youth Defining Their Future
The fog was heavy, and the clouds were thick as we wound our way up the dirt road in the early morning on the outskirts of the municipality of Dos Quebradas, Risaralda, Colombia. The ground was soaked from rain the night before, and even though our fingers were...
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Climate – Smart Coffee in Uganda
At the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) we believe that adaptation to climate change should not be driven by a long series of bitter experiences of failed harvests. This is why we are part of the Feed the Future Alliance for Resilient Coffee, a...
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Kitchen Thoughts on Gender Mainstreaming
Johannes Thoma (26), Executive Management Assistant at implementing partner Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung recently visited Tanzania to learn more about the Household Gender Approach component of c&c.“I have seen women walking 10 hours to get water! “, I grumbled as I...
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An engaging knowledge sharing joint field visit
“My coffee farm is now performing much better and my family members come to see what they can do to improve their yields,” Stella Nakaggawa proclaimed as she motioned everyone to weave further into the maze of coffee branches. Her farm is exemplary in Luwero District...
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Not the ordinary camping trip
This summer, I had the privilege to join Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) during Coffee Camp in Copán, Honduras. Coffee Camp is a multi-stakeholder initiative led by HRNS, which brings together local institutions and the coffee community. The aim is to guide youth in...
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To Adapt to Climate Change, Coffee Farmers Need Bold Allies
The saw makes a grinding sound as Albert, a young Ugandan agronomist, maneuvers it back and forth slowly, cutting through the trunk of the coffee tree. His colleague Ambrose stands next to him, bracing the tree and readying himself to carefully lower it to the ground...
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From Italy to Guatemala, Lavazza visits Chiquimula
Since 2010, the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) implements its vision to enable coffee farmers worldwide to adapt to climate change. See what our partners from Lavazza experienced when visiting the project region in Trifinio. “I became more and more...
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The Coffee Sector is Programming with Grandpa and Gambles with Its Future
The Coffee Sector is Programming with Grandpa and Gambles with Its Future by Michael Opitz, Managing Director HRNS The situation of youth and their motivation to engage in coffee production are the most critical indicators for the success of our sustainability...
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A community takes care of its own water supply
Since 2010, the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) implements its vision to enable coffee farmers worldwide to adapt to climate change. Water scarcity is one of the challenges, farmers face. HRNS-staff Johannes Thoma tells the story of the Idugumbi-Community...
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Adaptation, Resilience, and Sustainability: The Next Chapter in Coffee Production
Aida Escolán, originally from the capital city of Tegucigalpa, moved to rural Ocotepeque eight years ago to take over her grandfather’s coffee farm. The petite woman jumping down from the driver’s seat of her dusty off-road pickup is an ironic scene, but Aida’s...
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Brewing up Climate Resilience in the Coffee Sector
Since 2010, the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) implements its vision to enable coffee farmers worldwide to adapt to climate change. Together with four other organizations, c&c published a catalogue to motivate more investments into climate...
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My Awe and Amazement with the Mareu Youth Group
Our program Coffee Kids aims to empower young coffee farmers to create thriving businesses. This it how they do it in Tanzania: On a seemingly typical December morning, the time had come for me to visit the Mareu Youth Group in Arusha region, Tanzania. I planned to do...
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Sweeting Coffee Yields with Farm-Grown Honey in Indonesia
Inviting us to stand in a leafy green corner outside his house and holding up a hand-crafted, wooden bee box, Sofik beams as he tells us of his bees. “Since I started raising bees, the coffee on my farm is doing better, while the cash I earn from selling honey helps...
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Coffee Pulp Soda?!
An accustomed Wednesday morning in San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango, Guatemala always starts with a traditional breakfast of eggs, black beans and plantains, and an early visit to the local market to get fresh food for the day. Today was different. The busiest street...
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Café Con Historia: Leveron Family, Ocotepeque, Honduras
The Leveron family lives on a small coffee farm in Ocotepeque, Honduras, part of the Trifinio region in Central America, the tri-border area of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In the Trifinio, the main agricultural activity is coffee farming. For Kevin, Olvin,...
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Climate Smart Innovation in Tanzania
Since 2010, the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) implements its vision to enable coffee farmers worldwide to adapt to climate change. See how this resulted in climate-smart innovation in Usa River, Tanzania. Ubunifu is the Swahili word for creativity. And...
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Sunflowers as Climate-Smart Agricultural Practice
Since 2010, the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) implements its vision to enable coffee farmers worldwide to adapt to climate change. See how innovation in working with cover crops colors up Honduras: coffee&climate agronomist Karina Orellana is holding...
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Els in the Field
“Can we have both of them in the shot for the interview?” I asked Els while setting up the camera, nodding to the change agent couples sitting a few meters away from us. They were waiting to be interviewed by Els Lecoutere, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of...
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