Welcome to our blog

In this blog we will keep everyone that is interested in our project up to date on our progress. So let's start with our current status:

The assignment

We will do research, both in the Netherlands and in Kenya, into what climate/weather related problems Kenyan coffee farmers are dealing with and how we could help them deal with those problems. Part of this research is a 4-week fieldtrip to Nairobi and Nyeri in October. Later, in November, we will start the ideation and conceptualisation phase, where we come up with ideas on products and/or services that could help these farmers. In December there will be a second 4 week fieldtrip to Nairboi and Nyeri to test our solutions with our target group.

Our main research question for the first trip is: What kind of problems and/or lack of information do coffee farmers in Kenya encounter when cultivating their coffee crop? 

Collaborating companies

We work together with UTZ Certified and TAHMO during this project. 

UTZ Certified aims for a better future for farmers in several (developing) countries, by providing the farmers the UTZ-program. With this program, the farmers can grow better crops, and thereby generate more income and a better future perspective, while at the same time taking care of the environment and the earth's natural resources. The vision of UTZ is: "a world where sustainable farming is the norm".

TAHMO seeks to develop a network of weather stations across Africa. With 20,000 cheap and robust stations, they want to gather weather data to gain insights in climate changes. The stations will be placed at schools to improve the African education, which will hopefully lead to a new generation of scientists.

The current climate change makes it more difficult for farmers to cultivate their crop, since they cannot totally rely anymore on their existing knowlegde. Our goal is to make a climate-related product that can help farmers to produce more against less input.

Where are we at right now?

We're are looking for local contacts, (cheap) accomodation, flights and transfers. We are also busy to get into contact with local institutions, like the CMS and local universities. While half of the group is in Kenya, the other half of the group will be busy with summarizing all the information we found in our research so far into a first report, to be finished at the beginning of November.

Check our blog regurarly to stay up to date with our project :)!

Blend