Climate Resilient Value Chains Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Agribusiness Value-Chain Managers, Agricultural Programme Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-AA-087

Before you join: Participants should have practical familiarity with agriculture, food systems, commodity trading, rural development, procurement, sustainability, logistics or supplier management.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Agricultural value chains are increasingly disrupted by drought, flooding, heat stress, pests, water scarcity, transport failures and changing buyer requirements. Producers, processors, exporters, traders and development programmes must protect supply continuity while reducing emissions, improving resource efficiency and meeting traceability expectations. The challenge is not simply selecting climate-friendly practices; it is identifying where climate risk concentrates, determining viable responses, financing improvements and proving performance to buyers, lenders and regulators.

This course examines climate resilient and environmentally responsible value chains from farm inputs through processing, logistics, trade and end markets. Participants learn to map value-chain actors and climate risk pathways, assess exposure and vulnerability, select adaptation measures, reduce postharvest losses, quantify agricultural emissions and apply product footprint principles. The course also addresses traceability, due diligence, certification choices, circular use of by-products, climate finance, green procurement, inclusive governance and results measurement.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with sector cases, facilitated group analysis, risk-register development, scenario simulations and structured application planning. Cases draw on commodities such as coffee, cocoa, horticulture, grains, livestock and fisheries, adapted to the cohort’s regions and markets. Participants leave with a climate resilient value-chain action pack containing a risk register, intervention prioritisation matrix, traceability checklist, emissions boundary model and implementation roadmap. The course is delivered over five days, in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, and includes a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Map agricultural value chains and identify climate-risk exposure at critical nodes
  • Assess climate risks using IPCC risk concepts, scenario narratives and risk registers
  • Prioritise adaptation interventions using cost-effectiveness, feasibility and co-benefit criteria
  • Reduce postharvest losses through cold-chain, storage, packaging and logistics improvements
  • Define product carbon footprint boundaries using GHG Protocol and ISO 14067 principles
  • Design traceability and due-diligence controls for sustainable agricultural trade
  • Prepare circularity and climate-finance business cases for value-chain investments
  • Develop a climate resilient value-chain implementation roadmap with measurable indicators

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce climate-risk analyses that connect weather hazards to commercial supply-chain decisions
  • Assess agricultural emissions and footprint boundaries with greater technical confidence
  • Lead supplier discussions on traceability, environmental evidence and improvement priorities
  • Build credible business cases for resilient storage, irrigation, energy and circularity investments
  • Apply for agribusiness, sustainability and development roles requiring climate value-chain expertise

For your organisation

  • Reduce supply interruptions caused by climate-sensitive production and logistics bottlenecks
  • Improve readiness for buyer due diligence, deforestation controls and sustainability disclosures
  • Identify lower-cost interventions that reduce losses, energy use and input dependence
  • Strengthen producer engagement through practical adaptation and data-collection plans
  • Create investment pipelines suited to grants, guarantees, insurance and blended-finance facilities

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can map an agricultural value chain and identify its priority climate-risk pathways.

  • Value-chain mapping from input suppliers to end-market buyers and service providers
  • Climate hazard pathways linking drought, flood, heat and pests to nodes
  • Exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity scored using IPCC risk concepts
  • Seasonality calendars identifying climate-sensitive production, storage, transport and market periods
  • Stakeholder power-interest mapping for producers, aggregators, processors, traders and buyers
  • Materiality screening distinguishes livelihood, supply continuity, environmental and trade risks

Participants can assess climate risks and rank adaptation responses for critical value-chain vulnerabilities.

  • Downscaled climate data interpreted alongside farm records and supplier performance data
  • Risk register records likelihood, consequence, controls, owners and review dates
  • Scenario testing estimates volume, quality, cost and delivery impacts
  • Critical control points identify single-source dependencies and infrastructure bottlenecks
  • Early-warning triggers connect forecasts to procurement, inventory and logistics decisions
  • Adaptation options ranked through cost-effectiveness, feasibility and co-benefit criteria

Participants can select farm-level resilience measures suited to commodities, hazards and local conditions.

  • Climate-smart agriculture interventions matched to crop, livestock and agroecological conditions
  • Conservation agriculture assesses minimum tillage, cover crops and crop rotations
  • Water budgeting combines crop coefficients, rainfall records and irrigation scheduling
  • Integrated pest management reduces pesticide dependence under shifting pest pressure
  • Agroforestry designs assess shade, soil protection, biodiversity and farm income
  • Farmer field data tracks yields, input use, soil moisture and losses

Participants can identify postharvest, storage and logistics measures that protect quality and reduce losses.

  • Postharvest loss assessment separates physical, quality and market-value losses
  • Cold-chain mapping identifies temperature breaks, energy use and spoilage points
  • Solar drying and efficient cooling compared using lifecycle cost analysis
  • Warehouse management applies FEFO, moisture monitoring and pest-control protocols
  • Route optimisation reduces fuel use, delivery risk and product deterioration
  • Packaging redesign assesses protection, recyclability, weight and food-contact requirements

Participants can define emissions boundaries and prepare defensible agricultural product-footprint assessments.

  • GHG Protocol Scope 3 categories locate upstream and downstream agricultural emissions
  • ISO 14067 principles frame product carbon footprint goals and boundaries
  • Activity data, emission factors and allocation methods support footprint calculations
  • Land-use change emissions separated from farm energy and fertiliser emissions
  • Science-based target concepts distinguish reductions, removals and avoided emissions claims
  • Environmental claims reviewed against evidence, scope, comparability and greenwashing risks

Participants can specify traceability and due-diligence controls for responsible agricultural sourcing and trade.

  • Traceability system design defines critical tracking events and key data elements
  • Lot coding links farm practices, aggregation records, processing and export documentation
  • OECD-FAO due diligence identifies environmental, labour and land-tenure risks
  • Certification schemes compared by market acceptance, assurance model and producer burden
  • EU deforestation regulation requirements examined through geolocation, legality and traceability records
  • Buyer scorecards translate sustainability requirements into supplier improvement actions

Participants can identify circular business opportunities from agricultural by-products, waste and resource flows.

  • Circular value-chain mapping identifies by-products, waste streams and recovery opportunities
  • Material flow analysis quantifies biomass, water, nutrients, packaging and energy
  • Cascade-use principles prioritise food, feed, materials, energy recovery and disposal
  • Organic waste valorisation assesses composting, biogas, feed and biochar pathways
  • Industrial symbiosis links processors with adjacent users of heat and residues
  • Business cases compare capital cost, operating cost, revenues and environmental benefits

Participants can develop commercial and financing approaches for resilient value-chain investments.

  • Total cost of ownership compares resilient technologies with conventional alternatives
  • Climate finance instruments include grants, guarantees, blended finance and insurance
  • Parametric insurance design relates payout triggers to observable weather indices
  • Green procurement criteria specify lifecycle impacts, traceability and supplier evidence
  • Contract farming clauses allocate climate risks, quality standards and data responsibilities
  • Market segmentation identifies buyers paying for verified low-impact products

Participants can incorporate equity, labour and governance considerations into climate resilient value-chain plans.

  • Gender analysis identifies unequal access to land, finance, training and markets
  • Free, prior and informed consent protects Indigenous Peoples' decision rights
  • Living income benchmarks inform producer remuneration and commercial negotiations
  • Decent work assessments address heat exposure, safety and seasonal labour
  • Grievance mechanisms record complaints, remediation actions, confidentiality and escalation routes
  • Multi-stakeholder governance sets decision rights, data-sharing rules and accountability

Participants can prepare a measurable implementation plan for a climate resilient value-chain initiative.

  • Resilience investment roadmap sequences actions, owners, budgets, milestones and dependencies
  • Results framework links inputs, outputs, outcomes, indicators and assumptions
  • Key performance indicators track yield stability, losses, emissions and incomes
  • Data collection protocols define sources, frequency, quality checks and permissions
  • Adaptive management reviews evidence, revises actions and documents learning
  • Implementation plan aligns supplier engagement, financing, procurement and reporting deadlines

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Climate resilient value-chain risk register template
  2. Adaptation intervention prioritisation matrix
  3. Agricultural product carbon-footprint boundary model
  4. Traceability and due-diligence checklist
  5. Circular by-product opportunity assessment
  6. Value-chain resilience implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Agribusiness Value-Chain Managers — need to protect supply continuity and buyer relationships
  • Agricultural Programme Managers — need to design climate-resilient market development interventions
  • Exporters and Commodity Traders — need to meet buyer due-diligence and traceability requirements
  • Sustainability and ESG Managers — need credible agricultural emissions and supplier improvement plans
  • Procurement Managers — need to include climate, environmental and social criteria in sourcing decisions
  • Development Finance and NGO Specialists — need bankable resilience investments for producer groups

Skills and tools covered

Climate risk assessmentValue-chain mappingAgricultural carbon accountingTraceability system designCircular economy planningClimate investment appraisal

Tools and standards

GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Guidance, ISO 14067:2018, OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains, EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings followed by commodity-based case work, facilitated group analysis and decision simulations. Participants apply climate-risk concepts to farms, aggregation centres, processors, warehouses and export routes; compare adaptation and emissions-reduction options; and assess trade-offs using structured matrices. Group work covers risk registers, carbon-footprint boundaries, traceability controls and investment cases. Instructor feedback focuses on assumptions, evidence quality, commercial feasibility and implementation ownership. The final sessions support individual application planning for participants’ own value chains or programmes.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with agriculture, food systems, commodity trading, rural development, procurement, sustainability, logistics or supplier management. They should understand the basic stages of an agricultural value chain and be comfortable discussing costs, production constraints and commercial relationships. Experience working with farmers, cooperatives, processors, exporters or agricultural projects is useful. Prior climate-science training, carbon-accounting expertise, advanced spreadsheet modelling and prior knowledge of certification systems are not required. The course introduces the relevant methods before applying them to value-chain decisions.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need basic familiarity with agricultural value chains, agribusiness, procurement, development programmes or sustainability work. Specialist knowledge of climate science, carbon accounting or certification systems is not required.

Participants should bring a laptop and, where permitted, non-confidential information about a commodity, supplier base, project or value-chain challenge. Useful materials include process maps, procurement requirements, production data or sustainability reports.

The course suits managers and specialists working in agribusiness, agricultural development, commodity trade, sourcing, ESG, logistics and producer support. It is designed for professionals who influence value-chain investments, supplier practices or market-access decisions.

This course concentrates on commercial value-chain decisions from inputs and production through processing, trade and buyer requirements. It connects adaptation, emissions, traceability, circularity and finance rather than focusing only on farm practices or climate theory.

Participants can use the templates to assess a priority commodity, supplier group, processing operation or development intervention. The implementation roadmap helps convert findings into owned actions, budgets, indicators and review points.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours excluding breaks. Time is divided among instructor briefings, applied cases, group analysis, simulations and action-planning sessions across ten modules.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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