MASP IV · Data Platform
East & Central Africa · 2026–2030
Solidaridad
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Incomes & Livelihoods

Household and farm income, living income gaps, and how value is shared along the chain.
Moderate evidence22 studies · updated Oct 2026

Income results differ by commodity: coffee programmes and oil palm growers report higher incomes and dairy became more commercial, but maize farmers started at a loss, fresh-produce farmers keep only 11–20% of value, tea workers earn well below a living wage and most artisanal gold miners earn under USD 50 a week. The only controlled study found no profit improvement.

Key evidence

  • TRACE Kenya reported average household coffee income rising from KES 34,293 to KES 66,893 (95%) and the average cherry price from KES 57 to KES 81 per kg; 90% of surveyed farmers reported income gains. TRACE Kenya · Endline · 2025
  • PACE in Tanzania reported household income up 14% over baseline to TZS 4.66 million, with coffee's share of household income rising from 47.6% to 75.2%. PACE · Midline
  • In the Coffee Resilience programme, 44% of farmers in Kenya and Uganda and 36% in Tanzania reported higher household income. PFC · Endline · 2022
  • F4APK found productivity, profit and food-security outcomes did not improve relative to control groups, although dairy commercialisation increased. F4APK · Endline · 2020
  • Dairy: in F4APK the share of milk sold to dairy cooperatives rose by 40% relative to the 50% baseline share, and the dairy share of production acreage rose from 22% to 35%. F4APK · Endline · 2020
  • Oil palm: Kalangala households growing oil palm earned UGX 26.2 million over 12 months against UGX 4.4 million for non-growers. NOPP · Baseline
  • Maize: at baseline, Bungoma farmers spent KES 36,173 per acre against sales of KES 27,717 per acre, producing at a loss. CSV · Baseline
  • Gold: 63.8% of P2P artisanal miners earned less than USD 50 a week (68.4% of women, 59.9% of men). P2P · Baseline
  • In four Kenyan fresh produce chains the farmer took 11% (tomatoes) to 20% (mangoes) of net value, with brokers, wholesalers and retailers capturing most of the margin. RS! · Thematic study
  • Coffee farmers selling red cherry earned a margin of about US$0.08/kg in Kenya and US$0.15/kg in Uganda, against US$9.6/kg and US$6.6/kg if they roast. RS! · Thematic study
  • Kenyan tea smallholders received 73.5% of auction prices in 2022, but a 1-acre farmer nets about KES 110,505 a year, only 14% above the agricultural minimum wage; tea workers in both countries earn 35–68% of a living wage. RS! · Thematic study
  • Gold mine-site prices (about US$35.5–36.8 per gram) were close to the raw 18-karat price (US$39.5); miners' low returns came mainly from recovering only 25–40% of the gold, high costs and ore-sharing arrangements. RS! · Thematic study

In figures

Who captures the value in Kenyan fresh produce%
Farmer Broker Wholesaler Retailer Transporter Other / not stated
Tomatoes
11Tomatoes
Farmer: 11%26Tomatoes
Broker: 26%10Tomatoes
Wholesaler: 10%31Tomatoes
Retailer: 31%11Tomatoes
Transporter: 11%11Tomatoes
Other / not stated: 11%
Onions
14Onions
Farmer: 14%11Onions
Broker: 11%35Onions
Wholesaler: 35%32Onions
Retailer: 32%Onions
Other / not stated: 8%
Bananas
16Bananas
Farmer: 16%20Bananas
Broker: 20%29Bananas
Wholesaler: 29%24Bananas
Retailer: 24%11Bananas
Other / not stated: 11%
Mangoes
20Mangoes
Farmer: 20%26Mangoes
Broker: 26%14Mangoes
Wholesaler: 14%24Mangoes
Retailer: 24%Mangoes
Transporter: 6%10Mangoes
Other / not stated: 10%

Share of net value along each chain. "Other / not stated" is the remainder the study does not assign to a named actor; banana wholesalers include ripening and distribution companies.

RS! · Thematic study
Data table
ItemFarmerBrokerWholesalerRetailerTransporterOther / not stated
Tomatoes112610311111
Onions1411353208
Bananas16202924011
Mangoes20261424610

Change over time

FOSEK (coffee) Kenya and Ethiopia
  1. Midline 2020Average income per farmer fell in Kenya (KES 130,607 to 75,156) and roughly doubled in Ethiopia (Birr 20,394 to 40,457) against the 2014 baseline.
  2. Endline 2021No reliable data on farmer sales and income were available; coffee quality reportedly improved from grade 3 to grade 1.
Golden Line (women in gold-mining communities) Tanzania
  1. Baseline 2017Community women earned on average USD 55.82 a month; only 3% rated their own earning opportunities as high.
  2. Midline 201992% of women saw more opportunities to earn or already earned more; financial security averaged 5.4 out of 10.
  3. Endline 202075% said their opportunities to earn had increased; financial security rose to 6.0, but the wage gap had not visibly closed.

What works

What holds results back

Recommendations for programming

Evidence gaps & caveats

  • Studies measure income in different ways (total household income, coffee income, self-rated change, value shares), so results are not comparable across projects.
  • Few endlines have reliable sales and price data; FOSEK had none.
  • Living income benchmarks are only used in the tea study.

Why this evidence rating: Several endlines and four value-chain studies give consistent signals, but income data are mostly self-reported and uncontrolled, and the one controlled study found no profit gain.

Source studies (22)