Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund

The world’s 2.4 billion smallholder farmers still make up over half of the world’s poor. A substantial percentage of those small farmers live in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region predominantly rural with agriculture as the main occupation area, mainly subsistence farming. It is estimated that around 70% of the population in these countries depend on agriculture. Their livelihoods are greatly unstable lacking any safety net, and their vulnerability will grow as climate change advances.

Based on Acumen’s experience, ARAF will help improve the livings of small farmers including new instruments to tackle climate change (climate resilience):

1. Aggregator Platforms: bypassing intermediaries and getting directly to providers and suppliers.
2. Information & Communication Technology: access to knowledge, information, networking, buyers and suppliers, etc.
3. Financial Service Providers: companies providing access to formal financial services like affordable credit, saving products, insurance solutions, etc., enabling farmers to purchase improved inputs or other productive assets to diversify their incomes, increasing their livelihoods and their resilience against negative impacts of climate change.