The problem: subsistence-level farming with shockingly low yields
Agriculture is the dominant profession of farmers presently living on less than US$1 a day. 80% of Africa’s poor are rural farm families, currently relying on subsistence-style farming to meet their food and income needs. Many of these farmers work incredibly hard but achieve extremely low yields and face uncertainties due to severe fluctuations in the weather and markets. With the right resources, training and access to broader markets, One Acre Fund helps farmers participating in the core program increase their farm profits and assets by an average of US$124. [1] [8]
In many of Africa’s remote farming villages, basic technologies like seed and fertilizer are often unavailable. If they are available, farm families often cannot access the start-up capital necessary to purchase them. Smallholders also struggle to optimize their farming output without proper training on agricultural best practices. Finally, post-harvest challenges like inadequate storage, pest infestations, spoilage, and lack of access to formal markets can prevent farmers from translating yields into profits.
The solution: holistically addressing the barriers to smallholder productivity
Traditional agricultural assistance programs often provide support in just one area. For example, offering a small start-up loan or subsidizing fertilizer. But distributing high-quality farm inputs yields little benefit if farmers cannot afford them or do not know how to properly use them. To truly improve farmers’ livelihoods, an organization must address each of the interlocking barriers farmers face, from pre-planting access issues to finding fairly priced markets for the produce they’ve worked hard to grow.
How One Acre Fund works
One Acre Fund’s model is designed to address all of the barriers that prevent smallholder farmers from achieving long-term financial stability and prosperity. . At the start of each planting season, they deliver thousands of tons of high-quality farm inputs to within walking distance of every customer — and extend those inputs on credit at a quarter the size of the average microfinance loan. Throughout the season, One Acre Fund field staff deliver in-field training on best farming practices.
At harvest time, One Acre Fund provides farmers with the tools and knowledge to safely store their harvest and sell during the off-season for significant profit. For a growing number of farmers, they are offering the aggregation, certification, processing, transportation, and brokering services needed to connect them with formal markets, where their crops can fetch a much better price.
One Acre Fund’s success lies in the holistic combination of access to training and high quality resources, long-term resilience-building support, and access to profitable markets, providing support across the entirety of the value chain.. On average, this model boosts clients’ incomes on supported activities by 35-40% within a single growing season. Furthermore, when farmers improve their harvests, they produce more food for their families and communities.
In 2024, One Acre Fund helped the farmers it works with earn a total of $434 million worth of new profits and assets.
One Acre Fund also operates a “Systems Change” platform through which it engages in partnerships with both private and public sector actors to improve the entire agricultural ecosystem. This work enables One Acre Fund to reach millions of additional farm families beyond its core program.
