AgDevCo

The company is one of the few commercial-scale pork farms in the country and is improving quality and food safety in the Ugandan pork market.

Can new technologies reduce the cost of training for Africa’s smallholder farmers, with a significant positive impact on agribusinesses and, therefore, on the farmers they work with? The jury is still out, but the idea was tested recently when AgDevCo’s Smallholder Development Unit (SDU) hosted a Knowledge Sharing Workshop in Kampala.

By investing across agricultural value chains in Africa, AgDevCo is helping businesses find commercial innovative solutions to meet SDGs. 

How can impact investing boost the economy of undeveloped areas? Read this case study on Katito Farm in Northern Zambia. 

AgDevCo’s plans to expand its portfolio of sustainable investments in African agriculture.

The SDU operates alongside AgDevCo’s core activity of providing long-term debt and equity to SMEs.

Our brochure gives an overview of what we do and how we work. This version was updated in June 2018 and gives details of our portfolio and impact as of this date. Our brochure also includes six short case studies which provide a deeper insight into the impact that our investments have on agribusinesses, rural livelihoods, and agro-economies. Available in both French and English.

Téléchargez ici notre brochure “Construire l’agriculture de demain en Afrique, pour un impact durable". Download the French version of AgDevCo’s brochure here.

Aiming to raise farmer incomes by increasing yields by 50%, 10,000 smallholder farmers are benefitting from video-based technical support and training on good agricultural practices. This baseline report discovered approximately half (49%) of farmers surveyed were living below the food poverty line.

With support from AgDevCo’s Smallholder Development Unit (SDU), the scheme aims to benefit over 4,000 farmers. Over the course of three years, household incomes are expected to increase by up to $200 per annum. This baseline survey indicates the poverty rate of Tropha households (37%) is still slightly higher than the national poverty rate (32%), and the poorest of the poor are more likely to be living in female-headed households.

Improving extension services with a non-recoverable investment of $335,000 aims to raise the annual average income of smallholder farmers by 131% by 2021. The farmers surveyed are generally poorer than the population of Tanzania as a whole – 24% were living below the national poverty line.  

AgDevCo’s Smallholder Development Unit is supporting GADC to provide microloans and training to build financial skills, with the aim of stabilising household incomes, and improving productivity. The VSLA members are generally poorer than the population of Uganda as a whole, with 20% of members  found to be living below the national poverty line for Uganda. When asked, 13% of respondents reported to having eaten only one meal the previous day.