Supporting smallholder farmers in Africa

One Acre Fund (OAF) is an NGO that serves more than four million smallholder farmers (families with an average farm size of between 0.4 and 0.8 hectares depending on the country) in Africa. It operates in nine African countries, seven of which are least-developed countries (LDCs). One Acre Fund supplies agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizers, storage bags) for an average value of $80 per season. The farmers can also buy essential goods on credit (solar lamps, home solar kits, improved stoves, manual planters, water pumps). Throughout the agricultural cycle, One Acre Fund provides several free training courses, including on planting techniques to use a minimum of fertilizer, reducing soil acidity, making natural fertilizers, drying and storing crops, and intercropping. In addition, free tree seedlings are distributed to all the clients to control erosion and improve soil quality. 

Proparco’s financing is supporting One Acre Fund’s working capital requirement related to pre-financing agricultural inputs for more than 1.6 million smallholder farmers.

The project is part of the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM) initiative, spearheaded by the French President to support food security in the most vulnerable countries. It will improve food security for rural communities and their agricultural yields, by helping to provide farmers with access to quality inputs in the countries of operation of OAF in East and Southern Africa.

The expected impacts of this financing are as follows:

Employment

• About 400 direct jobs supported in the NGO over the next 5 years, and more than 27,000 indirect jobs in the value chain

Climate

• The financing has 14% of mitigation co-benefits recorded through the provision of  stand-alone off-grid energy supply solutions for domestic use and/or production: solar lamps, home solar kits, water pumps. In terms of adaptation, the project takes account of the climate risks identified, as demonstrated by the good practices developed regarding developments/changes observed in the field. This can be seen with the soil analysis conducted by region and by type of crop, as well as the support to help farmers switch to crops adapted to local conditions   

Biodiversity

• When designing its projects, OAF takes into account the risks related to biodiversity, without leading to biodiversity co-benefits. This is demonstrated by the tree planting activities and the support provided to farmers to raise their awareness of the importance of preserving an environment in which sustainable farming is possible

Gender

• The financing is aligned with the 2X Challenge on the basis of the following criteria: Criterion 2 “Leadership”, with 44% of the management team made up of women and 37.5% of the Board of Directors made up of women, Criterion 3 “Employment”, as 46% of the employees are women, and Criterion 4 “Consumption”, as 55% of OAF’s clients are women and 65% of the people who attend the NGO’s training courses are women

Access

• Support for providing new or improved access to a micro-credit service for 250,000 beneficiaries over the next 5 years

The project will thereby contribute to the achievement of the following SDGs: 1. No poverty; 5. Gender equality; 8. Decent work and economic growth; 10. Reduced inequalities.