Overview
Smallholder Resilience Ventures (SRV) is a USD 100 million debt and equity fund and technical assistance facility that aims to fill the agricultural financing gap in Africa, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to scale and provide guaranteed premium markets to smallholders growing climate-friendly crops. SRV aims to strengthen value chains and increase farmer income and climate resilience — all while creating investable SME opportunities.
Problem
The vulnerability of smallholder farmers in Africa is compounded by climate change and exacerbated by market barriers, with female farmers disproportionately affected. There exists a clear ‘chicken and egg’ problem. Smallholders are unable to access high market prices given small yield volumes (which removes their negotiating power) and are thus not incentivized to diversify into higher-value crops. At the same time, businesses along the value chain are under-financed, and thus unable to invest in smallholder aggregation or to increase purchasing prices.
Solution
SRV sees this challenge as a compelling climate adaptation opportunity. SRV builds farmer resilience by supporting their diversification into high-value, climate-resilient crops, such as avocados
To achieve this, SRV will make strategic investments in agricultural SMEs that source climate-resilient, high-value crops from smallholders. This is complemented by One Acre Fund’s direct production-level technical support to farmers on the ground. The vehicle catalyzes a virtuous cycle of increased production for farmers and increased raw material, turnover, and investment for SMEs, which delivers greater climate and income resilience for farmers.
CC Facility Support
The CC Facility is supporting SRV in selecting a partner fund manager to launch the vehicle and achieve its ambitions of scaling great companies, helping smallholders adapt to climate change, and mobilizing private capital. Specifically, the CC Facility provides SRV with strategic advice on potential partnership structures, the selection criteria for a partner fund manager, and assistance with drafting the Fund Manager Request for Proposal (RFP). Subsequently, the CC Facility will support financial modeling, a scalability assessment, investor mapping, gender strategy, and investor outreach.
Website
One Acre Fund - https://oneacrefund.org/