Thematic Areas

Climate-Smart Agriculture

Climate change is humanity’s biggest challenge; agriculture is particularly affected, given its dependency on weather and functioning ecosystems. In addition, while agriculture is greatly impacted by a changing climate, it is also one of the biggest drivers of climate change. Agriculture and land-use change account for roughly 25% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There is hence an immediate need both to mitigate the effect of agriculture on global warming and for farming systems to adapt to non-mitigatable climate change. Smallholders in low- and middle-income countries are particularly exposed. Already producing low and erratic yields, and often disconnected from major input and output value chains, financial safety nets and extension services, they are uniquely vulnerable to the risks associated with climate change and the degradation of agricultural ecosystems.

In response to this urgent challenge, SAF (formerly SFSA) is including Climate-Smart Resilient Agriculture (CSRA) as a core component of its renewed strategy. This decision highlights the need – and our determination – to help smallholders to deal better with the consequences of climate change.

SAF is already 'Climate-Smart' in many ways: For instance, we engage in developing and delivering climate-smart genetics, index-based weather insurance products, tools for precision input use, water-efficient irrigation and energy-efficient mechanization. However, tackling the systemic challenge of climate change requires us to go beyond isolated interventions. We will now build solutions that improve the capacity of farming systems to mitigate and adapt to climate change in more systemic and sustainable ways. 

The Global Agricultural Technology Evaluator (GATE) is a web-based platform that validates climate-smart agricultural innovations, aiming to develop new markets for innovators and deliver high value for smallholders and local businesses in developing regions. GATE adopts a stage-gate model in validating innovations and ensures transparent governance systems in project management. Its focus is on delivering resilience and adaptive innovations to smallholders to improve their livelihoods in the context of climate change. GATE collaborates with the Evergreen Impact Platform (EIP) in India, smallholder farmers, value-chain actors, and other partners globally to achieve this goal.

Recently, GATE has improved its applicability in data collection, transmission, and management efficiencies by over 70% by integrating the SFSA Field Trial App. This app is a robust web and Android mobile application designed for field trial design implementation, data collection, and management.

A large number of agricultural innovations in digital tools, mechanization, nursery practices, farming practices, irrigation, and postharvest have been validated and delivered to over 2 million smallholder farmers across Bangladesh, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal, thanks to the Farmers’ Hubs serving as the delivery channel for GATE-validated innovations.

Agri-Entrepreneurship

Smallholders with small pieces of land and poor agronomic knowledge have been continuing traditional agriculture by heredity. Due to the small basket size of input requirement and discrete production volume they cannot take the attention of large and quality ago business companies and traders. Besides, to get multiple services, they need to reach different service providers (eg. input retailers or nursery owners for seed/seedling, fertilizer, crop protection, etc.; Agri extension officers or fellow farmers for Agri advice, mechanization service providers/sellers for machines; local traders or market for selling produce, etc.) where there is no coherence among the services or service providers.

In this context, SAF formerly SFSA has designed an inclusive business model called “Farmers’ Hub” which is a one-stop commercial service platform creating smallholders’ access to quality inputs, Agri machines, markets, finance, and knowledge. It helps increase farm productivity and ensures fair prices.

The Hubs are close to farming zones and transport infrastructure, but normally far from formal markets. The Hubs serve 500-1000 farmers each, linking them to 10-20 buyers. These include medium to large traders, processors, and export companies. The Hubs are owned by rural entrepreneurs, agribusiness suppliers, or farmers’ cooperatives. Fees for the services provide a regular flow of income. As well as selling produce, smallholders go to their Hub to access quality seedlings, farm machinery, post-harvest handling equipment, marketing information, and agronomic advice. The overall effect is a rise in farm yields and income. Buyers benefit from product aggregation and reliable supply.

Different external and internal studies show that the Hubs are a good vehicle for technology transfer and service delivery to small and marginal farmers in remote regions. Organizing smallholders this way can greatly facilitate the production and collection of quality crops from disadvantaged areas. It also improves compliance with quality standards. This is not only true in Bangladesh. Building on the success there, our team in Senegal launched its own Farmers’ Hubs at the end of 2017. The SAF (formerly SFSA conducted a pilot phase for the Farmers' Hub model in Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, and Nigeria. In March 2018, we have also added a digital platform, the eFarmersHub to support the offer of the program. Besides this, this model is scaling up in different countries in Franchise or Network Manager concepts.

Farmers' Hub operators provide various services for fees. They earn 60-80% of their revenue by trading farmers' products, 10-20% from farm inputs sales, and 0-5% for machinery rental and post-harvest handling. Their farmer training and advice is free.

Insurance & Risk Mitigation

Agricultural production and food security have made impressive progress in South and South-East Asia over recent decades. The improvements have played a key role in fueling economic growth. However, climate change and related erratic weather events threaten farmers’ livelihoods, as do pests and diseases.  Poor harvests can prevent farmers from repaying their loans. They are then naturally unwilling to access credit or use modern inputs in the next season. Yields and income, therefore, typically fall again.  

In OECD countries, most farmers benefit from crop insurance or the equivalent in price supports and guarantees. By contrast, farmers in middle- and low-income countries, do not have access to such risk mitigation services. Most of these farmers are smallholders. 

Agricultural insurance is a valuable financial instrument for smallholder farmers. It increases their resilience by avoiding or limiting potentially devastating financial losses. This prevents them from falling into poverty. Insurance also eases access to finance and increases smallholders’ productivity. They can confidently invest in their farms and adopt new technologies that enable economic prosperity and eventual graduation from poverty. 

SAF (formerly SFSA) has been working on agricultural insurance since 2009. We started by developing innovative and affordable insurance tailored to smallholders in East Africa. In 2014, we created an independent social enterprise called Africa Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE Africa). So far, ACRE has operations in three countries, an innovative range of micro-insurance products and over 1.7 million farmers insured.  

Under the component insurance & risk mitigation, SAF is now using its experience to bring smart risk-mitigation strategies to farmers elsewhere. With tailored micro-insurance products, farmers can confidently invest in quality inputs, get access to credit and increase their productivity. 

The insurance program operates as an intermediary, not an insurance company. We build a bridge between demand and supply in the agriculture insurance market and align the various organizations involved. Our stakeholders include farmers, cooperatives, the public sector, input suppliers, local insurers and international reinsurers, microfinance institutions, NGOs, and mobile network operators. We monitor and assess risk and develop insurance products specifically for smallholders. These products typically cover a variety of crops against weather risks like drought, storms, flooding, and erratic rains. Other examples include yield cover.  

We offer a range of services such as technical product design, stakeholder coordination, and business development. That combination is usually unique in agricultural insurance value chains. SFSA’s AIS team helps build the capacity of local insurance companies to add agricultural insurance products to their portfolios. We partner with agricultural organizations to tailor and implement the best-suited products. 

Food & Nutrition

SAF adopts a holistic food systems approach to address urban food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture, focusing on two secondary cities each in Bangladesh, Kenya, and Rwanda. Our work emphasizes increasing the availability and demand for nutritious foods produced through agroecological practices, fostering nutrition-sensitive value chains, and strengthening governance and local capacity.

Key initiatives include creating food systems platforms to bring together stakeholders from governance, civil society, and the private sector for collaborative decision-making. SAF also strengthens farmers' hubs and value chains to ensure nutritious food is accessible, affordable, and sustainable. Through social behavior change communication, we promote nutritional literacy and healthier consumption behaviors.

By monitoring urban food systems and scaling successful practices, SAF contributes to inclusive, resilient urban food systems that enhance health, sustainability, and livelihoods while addressing the broader challenges of climate and urbanization.

Carbon Credit

We have carbon credit programs in Africa and Asia. Man-made greenhouse gas emissions stimulate climate change. This threatens the livelihoods of African smallholders – already the world’s most vulnerable farmers. Soil degradation also continues in Sub-Saharan Africa, further aggravating food insecurity. Tackling climate change and soil degradation requires a reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Sustainable farming practices can sequester carbon and improve soil health at the same time. Crop rotations, reduced tillage, green manure, and agroforestry all increase carbon sequestration in the soil and/or perennial vegetation. Longer-term, they can also increase farm revenue. However, smallholders have not yet widely adopted such practices. One major reason is their need for an immediate return on investment. The challenge is, therefore, to bridge the gap until farmers begin to benefit financially. 

Payments for ecosystem services can encourage them to adopt more sustainable practices. Our approach is to use carbon credits as an additional source of income. Therefore we have long been engaged in projects with the World Bank`s BioCarbon Fund in Zambia and Kenya. The Fund supports sustainable land use, forestry, and conservation programs in developing countries. 

In Asia, SAF focuses on the Barind Tract in Bangladesh, addressing challenges like water scarcity, soil erosion, and nutrient depletion. Through the Carbon Credit Income for Climate-Smart Technology Adaptation (CCICTA) program, SAF would like to link approximately 8,000 farmers—90% of whom will be the mango growers—to the carbon credit market. This effort would contribute to the climate mitigation by reducing GHG emission, increase tree plantation, increase farmers’ income, and contribute to the SDG. It is expected to generate annual average GHG emission reductions or removals of 54,651 tCO2e and total GHG emission reductions of 1,093,014 tCO2eq over 20 years.   

Seed Systems

Smallholders have limited access to quality seeds of improved varieties. Seed is the cornerstone of any productivity gains at the farm gate. Despite all the effort and investment made in breeding by the public sector, many smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia still plant low-quality seeds of the same varieties used by previous generations. 

Our seed program, called 'Seeds2B' (Seeds-to-Business), was launched in 2012 by SFSA with the goal of helping smallholder farmers improve their access to good quality seeds of the varieties they need. To date, the program is active in Africa and Asia by implementing several projects we co-finance with other donors on a wide range of crops (cereals, legumes, tubers, vegetables). Seeds2B follows a market-oriented approach, and its key features are catalyzing public-private partnerships along the seed and grain value chains, building the capacity of key seed stakeholders, identifying bottlenecks and solutions, and improving the policy environment.