Agriculture

Our experience covers agronomy best practices, intersection with gender and nutrition, regenerative agriculture, climate and environmental impacts.

Laterite has hands-on experience in agriculture and rural development research, including impact evaluations, large quantitative surveys and mixed methods projects. We also have experience with yield measuring, especially in the coffee value chain, perception and attitudes studies, and secondary data analysis. Our team has a special interest in the intersection of agriculture and other themes such as livelihoods, gender, and public health.

We have worked in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, the DRC, Zimbabwe and Burundi.

Examples of work

Yield measurements

We develop, test and implement methodologies to measure agricultural yields, for example processes to enhance farmer recall and customized field protocols. We can also deploy machine learning and AI techniques to estimate yield.

Regenerative agriculture

We are SNV’s monitoring, evaluation and learning partners for the REALMS project, set up to create conditions for successful adoption of regenerative agricultural practices in Western Kenya and Western Rwanda.

Market surveys

Laterite partnered with IFPRI and GIZ to collect data for the annual gross margin analysis of the Green Innovation Center in Ethiopia. This included a market survey to gather data on the availability and prices of foods, beverages and livestock.

Farm surveys

We managed all aspects of data collection for the evaluation of the UCAT training program, designed by IFPRI as an RCT. Our field teams visited 10,000 coffee farms in Uganda to conduct a household surveys and measure yields.

TechnoServe

Monitoring and evaluation of a training program

Laterite is TechnoServe’s research partner on the Coffee East Africa program, working on the evaluation of the Agronomy Training program. Our team developed the program’s monitoring and evaluation and impact evaluation strategy, and we also oversee all primary data collection work. Laterite also leads on data analysis and supports TechnoServe by building opportunities for learning into their M&E systems.