Launch of the IDH Farm & Co-op Investment Program

Joost Oorthuizen, executive director of IDH: “By enabling farmers and co-ops to pre-finance inputs and R&R services, their productivity and quality and ultimately farm-level incomes will improve and farmers resilience will strengthen.”

Building on our own experiences and the good work of others IDH has launched the Farm & Co-op Investment Program,  focusing on:

1) making farms & co-ops bankable by providing technical assistance and training

2) convening public and private partners (including banks) to build enabling financial systems.

The Farm & Coop Investment Program will convene working groups to accelerate learning through constructive dialogues on best practices. One working group will bring together players from the cocoa and financial sector to focus on rating criteria that can determine the bankability of a farmer and co-op. This group will also work on aligning and harmonizing training curricula to prepare farmers and coops for finance.  A  second group will explore  the set up of a data system to track outstanding loans to avoid over-indebtedness of farmers and coops and to inform financers about the farmer / co-op they are planning to finance.

To enable prototyping of finance mechanisms for farmers and co-ops, by industry players and financial institutions, the Farm & Co-op Investment Program has set up the Cocoa Challenge Fund (CCF), which is also open for other funders. Constellations that consist of a cocoa sector player with a farmer/co-op base and a financial institution, can submit prototyping proposals. The learning from these prototypes will be made available to a wider audience to ensure maximal public good impact.

For more information about the Farm & Co-op Investment or to apply for funds contact: Simplice Chigbo: Chigbo@idhsustainabletrade.com

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