Fairtrade Access Fund

Subsidy : April 2020

Fairtrade Access Fund is an open-ended debt fund with an existing technical assistance facility that has the objective to support FAF investees and potential investees in attaining their development potential by providing access to skills and technical assistance services (TA).

Amount

€ 350,000.00

Type of investment

Subsidy

Development impacts

  • Local economic growth
  • Private sector consolidation/innovation
  • Financial inclusion
  • Fight against climate change and preservation of natural resources

Beneficiary locations

Latin America and Caribbean: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru
Sub-Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda

Investment field

Investment Companies & Funds

Activity

SME Fund

Organisation

Fairtrade Access Fund

Domicile

Belgium

More investments in

Fairtrade Access Fund

  • Equity € 3,000,000.00 (2019)

The Fairtrade Access Fund (FAF) is a regulated evergreen fund founded in 2012 and operates in Latin America and Africa, offering lending products for cooperatives, processors and agricultural exporters who work primarily with smallholder farms and have a strong commitment to sustainable development. The fund currently supports around 250,000 sustainable and Fairtrade certified farmers.

The FAF Technical Assistance Facility focuses on five main areas of intervention:

  1. To improve the productivity and/or quality of smallholder farmers’ crops by providing them with better access to services and critical, actionable information that will enhance yields, reduce or prevent the impact of diseases, and improve quality, thereby enabling them to meet international market requirements and/or have better access to markets;
  2. To improve the capacity of smallholder farmers to comply with fair trade and sustainable certification processes and to maintain their certifications, thereby facilitating their access to fair trade and sustainable markets, as these markets offer organized value chains, where commodity pricing reflects the added value of the fair and sustainable practices employed;
  3. To build the capacity of FAF investees and potential investees, particularly Producer Organizations (POs), to manage their business effectively and efficiently by improving management, governance and planning capabilities, thereby allowing them to provide better services to smallholder farmers and to increase their outreach;
  4. To strengthen the operational and social performance management of FAF investees and potential investees by implementing poverty assessment tools, farmer socio-demographic baselines and profiling activities;
  5. To contribute to a fair agricultural sector through knowledge sharing by developing and elaborating case studies, thematic researches, learning events.

Development impacts

  • Local economic growth
  • Private sector consolidation/innovation
  • Financial inclusion
  • Fight against climate change and preservation of natural resources

Read impact and news about this project

Honouring our coffee

Impact Story

Honouring our coffee

07-06-2021

BIO has invested in the Fairtrade Access Fund and is one of the donors of its Technical Assistance Facility (TAF FAF).

The Fairtrade Access Fund has invested in Soprocopiv, a coffee cooperative in Kivu, in the DRC, and has, likewise, supported them through a Technical Assistance Facility.

Judith Kahindo Katavali works as a technical supervisor of agronomists for Soprocopiv. Kambale Bonane Blessing owns a coffee plantation and is one of the members of Soprocopiv. This is their story.

Read more
To boldly go where no woman has gone before

Impact Story

To boldly go where no woman has gone before

14-05-2020

In 2019, BIO invested € 3 M in the Fairtrade Access Fund. Fallon Casper is Incofin's Head of Debt – AgroFinance & Food and is closely involved in its operations.

This is her story.

Read more

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