Assessing Impacts of Private Investments in Transforming Smallholder Farming

Principal Investigator: Samuel Ledermann, PhD
Co-PI: Michael Mann, PhD MA

Description:  

Smallholder farmers in Africa face significant challenges that can hinder their productivity and growth, including access to technologies, resources, financing and markets. They typically farm on less than 5 acres of land (Bread for the World, 2023), have family-focused motivations, use mainly family labor for production, and use part of their produce for family consumption (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2012).

In Africa, the annual public funding gap for agricultural transformation is $21 billion USD.

The Financing Agricultural Small-and-Medium Enterprises in Africa (FASA Fund) is a “fund of funds” that aims to bridge this gap and support 1.5 million smallholders and 500 agricultural Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by providing catalytic capital, technical assistance  and capacity building to investment funds that in turn support Africa’s agricultural sector (FASA website). The FASA Fund further aims to raise up to 2 billion USD of commercial capital by offering to reduce the risk to investors by guaranteeing to cover any initial losses.

This project will develop and apply a theoretical framework to assess the impact of farm-level investments on the  social, economic, and environmental impact of FASA Fund investments on social, smallholder farmers in underserved communities.