In the face of critical global challenges such as food security, livelihood improvement, climate resilience, and economic development, the role of smallholder markets has become pivotal. However, these markets face a significant shortfall in essential investments. Currently, smallholder farmers grapple with a funding gap of approximately USD $170 billion, a staggering amount with far-reaching implications for both global food supply chains and the environment.
IDH Farmfit steps forward to harness the potential of value chain companies, facilitating their investments in smallholder farming. This requires the development of efficient, economically viable and scalable smallholder inclusive business models. There is need for increased knowledge and capacity to enable value chain companies to invest more and smarter, and access scalable smallholder service delivery models.
We collect both quantitative and qualitative data, and share valuable insights to enable companies, their support organizations, and investors to develop cost-effective strategies and generate insights on how to make smallholder value chains more efficient, effective, and impactful. We foster collaboration in data collection, analysis, insight generation and dissemination, ensuring scalability and broad impact.
IDH Farmfit unlocks the power of capital markets and value chain companies to invest in smallholder farming, bridging the funding gap and establishing smallholder finance as a new asset class. At the core of our approach lies commitment to sustainability, promotion of gender inclusivity, and the establishment of climate resilience. This approach delivers impactful outcomes while generating returns for business, smallholders, and investors.
The IDH Farmfit operates with a strong focus on the following services:
IDH Intelligence & Business Analytics
IDH Intelligence disseminates groundbreaking insights, backed by data, to agribusinesses, helping to ensure that smallholder investments are attractive and impactful. Our unique FarmFit Insights Hub employs a learning framework to drive innovative recommendations, enhancing efficiency, commercial viability, scalability, and practicality. These insights empower businesses, investors, and support organizations to make informed decisions, fostering profitability and sustainability in collaborations with smallholder farmers.
Our Business Analytics team evaluates business models and provides tailored strategies that resonate with companies, smallholder suppliers, and their clients. Data flows into the Insight Hub enabling benchmarking and learning. Companies use our recommendations for internal strategy and alignment, communication and negotiation with partners, and fundraising. Our extensive experience spans various value chains, from coffee to maize to palm oil, working with food and beverage companies, local aggregators, input and financial service providers, and digital platforms.
Farmfit Fund
The Fund engages in high-risk positions in deals that directly uplift smallholders’ livelihoods in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Together, the arms of IDH Farmfit create a path for companies and support organizations to get inclusive business models ready for investors, encompassing banks, companies, and institutional asset managers, to embark on calculated risks that empower smallholder farmers.
Find out what Farmfit can do for you.
About Farmfit
FarmFit Intelligence shares key knowledge and insights on how to make smallholder value chains more efficient and effective. In 2015, IDH Farmfit developed a quantitative, data-driven and standardized methodology to analyse the efficiency, effectiveness, commercial viability and scalability of business models serving (and often also sourcing from) smallholder farmers.
Using this unique and innovative methodology, to date our teams have conducted over 100 business model analyses across 22 countries and 25 value chains and collected primary data on over 10,000 farmers. The robust data set helps companies, financiers, support organisations and donors to make better investment decisions.
Farmfit Fund is the world’s biggest ever public-private impact fund for smallholder farmers. The Fund’s innovative structure de-risks investments in smallholder farming and helps drive sustainable impact by showcasing the commercial opportunity represented by smallholder farming finance.
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Farmfit Partners
