In Sub-Saharan Africa, the ARAF fund is strengthening the climate resilience of smallholder farmers

Tamer El-Raghy’s assessment is clear. “Climate change is wreaking havoc here,” warns from Nairobi the Managing Director of the equity fund ARAF (Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund) which operates in several African countries affected by climate change. Intense floods followed by long periods of drought which degrade cultivated areas… “These disruptions weigh especially on the most vulnerable – women, children – and small-scale farmers who have very few means to protect and boost their crops.” This high exposure to these climate events consequently makes the performance of the agriculture sector in Kenya – and everywhere else in Sub-Saharan Africa – highly unstable, points out this expert who graduated from universities in Cairo and New York. “Indeed, over half of the people living in poverty are smallholder farmers. Yet they provide 80% of the food consumed in the region.” This illustrates how climate change, which hundreds of thousands of African farmers are facing, weakens local economies and exacerbates food security.

To address this situation, the ARAF fund, which was launched in 2020 by Acumen Capital-Partners – a subsidiary of Acumen, an organization specialized in supporting social enterprises in Africa –, invests in local start-ups. In December 2024, the portfolio of the ARAF fund was composed of 13 start-ups with operations in East and West Africa. The World Bank sets the poverty line at $3.20 per day in middle- and low-income countries. The Green Climate Fund has contributed $23 million to ARAF via a first loss guarantee facility. These impacts are evaluated on the basis of interviews carried out by a third party. offering innovative solutions to smallholder farmers. The objective is to build an ecosystem that will give farmers in East and West Africa the means to increase their incomes and improve their living conditions and resilience to climate change. 

This adaptation requires diversifying crops (corn, vegetables, etc.), improving irrigation and facilitating access to the most climate-resistant seeds and species. “We’re currently investing in 13 start-ups ” says Tamer El-Raghy. “We target smalholder farmers where >30% of whom live below the poverty line.2 Through its action, ARAF seeks to reduce poverty, strengthen climate resilience and demonstrate the impact of investment in resilient agriculture.” ARAF is supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and is financed with $58 million from several partners and development finance institutions, including Proparco which took a $5 million stake in 2021, through FISEA+, the AFD Group’s facility implemented by Proparco under the Choose Africa initiative.

On the ground, the ARAF teams regularly measure the impacts on the living standards of farmers and their work. “The activities of the start-ups we’re supporting have directly impacted more than 2 million farmers in East and West Africa; 90% of which reported an increase in their income and an improvement in their quality of life,” says the fund’s MD. The Kenyan start-up SunCulture, which supplies solar irrigation systems to its clients, estimates that on average there has been > 100% increase in the disposable income of the farmers who benefit from its innovations. 

This is the case of Josephine Waweru, a farmer specialized in coffee growing. She is based in Kirinyaga County, in central Kenya, and has installed a solar pump system supplied by SunCulture. “I used to use a really expensive and polluting gasoline system. I’ve also been able to diversify my crops to cope better with the risks related to climate change,” says the farmer. This observation is also shared by Jamleck Gichovi Karuri, who is based in another region in Kenya badly affected by the prolonged droughts. Thanks to a solar water pump system supplied by SunCulture, this breeder and farmer can now feed her livestock and harvest several crops every year.

“With climate change, rainfall in Sub-Saharan Africa has declined by over 100 mm a year since the mid-1970s,” says Samir Ibrahim, cofounder of SunCulture. As a result, Africa, which has 65% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, has an annual food imports bill of $35 billion. Yet with the technological advances in agriculture, the continent would be able to feed its population without the slightest problem. “For this to happen, these advances must focus in priority on helping smallholder farmers who are the most vulnerable to climate change,” says Tamer El-Reghy. “It’s both a need and an emergency.”

Farmerline, FarmWorks, SunCulture and East Africa Foods. These agricultural start-ups, which are financed by the ARAF fund, use technological innovation to help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change. All their managers agree that there is an emergency. “For farmers in Kenya, climate change is no longer a future threat‒it’s a daily disruption”, says Yi Li, CEO and cofunder of FarmWorks, a Kenyan start-up whose objective is to create a network of medium-sized farms (10 to 40 hectares) based on a rational farming model which improves adaptation to climate change.

“Our response is grounded in pragmatism: we’re building a climate-resilient supply chain, giving farmers direct income, and helping over 3,000 smallholders to boost their yields while rebuilding soil health. Adaptation isn’t optional. It’s the only path to economic stability and food security”

The agri-tech Farmerline operates in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It was set up in 2013 and supplies agricultural inputs adapted to climate change, as well as training services tailored to the needs of local farmers. “A report of 60 Decibels states that farmers in the South are on the front line of the climate crisis. 70% are faced with a myriad of climate risks, such as the lack or unpredictability of rainfall, extreme heat, flooding and the increase in parasites or agricultural diseases,” says Alloysius Attah, cofounder of Farmerline.

For Samir Ibrahim, cofounder of SunCulture, making African farmers resilient to climate change necessarily requires improving access to water. “96% of cultivated land in Africa is watered with rainwater and is not irrigated. The situation is getting worse and causing sharp declines in yields.” The Kenyan start-up, which also operates in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Togo and Uganda, offers solutions using off-grid solar technology. This provides a reliable access to water, irrigation, lighting and mobile phone charging.

“We support the climate resilience of smallholder farmers. We also improve their food security and increase their economic empowerment.”