SSNUP stakeholder workshop on overcoming challenges in investing in the agricultural sector

The stakeholders of the ADA-coordinated Smallholder Safety Net Upscaling Programme (SSNUP) gathered in Luxembourg for a two-day workshop on 19 and 20 April. This first ever in-person meeting gave the programme partners, including nine impact investors and three bilateral donors, an opportunity to take stock and to discuss the programme in depth.

At the time of the workshop, 51 projects had been approved which will support 88 investees across 27 countries. These projects aim to encourage the adoption of sustainable farming practices and risk management, thereby contributing to food security and facilitating investment in agricultural value chains. Around 72 000 smallholder farmers had been reached by these technical assistance projects until June 2022. 

First programme phase extended by 12 months

While these results are a promising start, all stakeholders agreed that more time was needed to achieve the objectives that were set out for the first phase of the programme, work on knowledge creation and lessons learnt and implement more projects. 

In particular, the programme stakeholders need more time to assess how best to use technical assistance to increase investments in the agricultural sector and to strengthen the resilience of smallholder households.  

 “It can be difficult to bring the different actors of agricultural value chains together with investors. For example, investors can sometimes be reluctant to engage with value chain actors that cannot produce reliable financial reporting. SSNUP can help by strengthening the reporting and risk management capabilities of these potential investees through technical assistance. In this way, SSNUP can act as a vehicle for attracting investments to the agricultural sector.” 

 

— Jean-Marc Debricon, CEO of Alterfin

As funders, the governments of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland therefore approved a 12-month extension of the first programme phase until December 2024.

Gearing up towards the second phase

While the second phase is only scheduled to begin in 2025, the workshop participants already started to look ahead. For example, they agreed that they would continue to place a particular emphasis on encouraging projects that promote climate resilience, agroecology, agroforestry and food security.

“One of the topics we discussed was how to develop a technical assistance support mechanism for investors who do not have an in-house technical assistance facility. I think SSNUP can really add value here so that the investors can benefit from institutional strengthening of their investees across the funds they manage without having to put in place a costly and dedicated facility. After all, SSNUP is all about benefiting from each other’s experience to make our projects more efficient in the interest of vulnerable smallholder farmers and their households.” 

— Viktoria Popova, Head of Technical Assistance at Incofin

The stakeholders further agreed that the programme should continue to be a market-led initiative aiming to carry out viable investments to strengthen agricultural value chains and make them more sustainable. They widely see SSNUP as having the potential of developing into a major source of knowledge and lessons learnt for agricultural investments in developing countries.