Invest in small-scale farms in sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the increasing extreme weather and ongoing economic challenges facing farmers this year in certain markets, we remain largely on track to achieve our 2024 performance goals. Some highlights within:

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  Stable Core Program Growth: We project serving 1.68 million farmers in our core (direct service) program by year-end, representing an ~8% increase from last year. Although we will see only modest growth in Kenya due to the ongoing government farm input subsidy program, we project strong growth in the three poorest markets we reach: Burundi (25% year over year), Malawi (24%), and Rwanda (8%).
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  Adapting to Extreme Weather: This year, Malawi's severe drought led to our largest crop insurance claim ever, partially compensating farmers for their losses. In response to the increasing prevalence of such extreme events, One Acre Fund is intensifying our climate resilience programming, including providing strong safety nets through improved insurance. For instance, we are partnering with IFC and Milliman on a three-year study to determine the payout levels families need in tough years to avoid costly coping mechanisms, providing crucial data for the agricultural insurance sector.
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  Commercialization: In our work to increase adoption of higher-profit cash crops, we are pioneering new approaches to improving smallholder-facing value chains and helping agricultural businesses succeed. Our Smallholder Resilience Ventures (SRV) unit, launched in 2022, is strategically investing in SMEs that source climate-resilient, high-value crops from smallholders. This year SRV is advancing Rwanda's avocado, chili, and coffee value chains, while in Kenya, we are exploring market validation for textured vegetable protein and developing climate-friendly irrigation solutions. Additionally, our Burundi program now supports 50 cooperatives in mushroom cultivation, generating on average $350 in new income per cooperative. 

• 2024_Q2_One_Acre_Fund_Performance_Report.pdf (PDF)
  

• A few highlights from this quarter:
• Core program growth: After facing headwinds from regulatory changes and high inflation last year, we anticipate returning to a strong trajectory in our direct full-service program, adding ~130,000 net new farm families this year. Core program growth will be driven primarily by increased site density in our poorest markets of Rwanda, Burundi, and Malawi.
• Unfavorable exchange rate movements: Several countries we operate in may face currency devaluation or depreciation again this year. To confront this challenge and continue to meet our farmer scale targets, we are implementing a number of proactive measures, including establishing a currency loss buffer in our 2024 budget, utilizing local currency for purchases when possible, and developing innovative financial tools such as first-loss funds to further safeguard against currency losses.
• One Acre Fund’s agroforestry work in Ethiopia: As the focus of this quarter's management discussion, we share an update on our Ethiopia program, where we expect ongoing conflict in the Amhara region to reduce the scale of our agroforestry-focused program this year. Our committed team has pivoted to a largely remote delivery model for the time being and we are hopeful to resume growth next year in this important market that has served as our 'innovation hub' for species diversification, decentralized production methods, and more. This quarter's report also profiles progress in our multi-year digital transformation efforts; to deepen impact, improve efficiency, and better reach new farmer segments.

• 2024_Q1_One_Acre_Fund_Performance_Report_.pdf (PDF)