Connecting 20 ‘Restoration Champions’ with Markets through Targeted Technical Assistance
Agri-businesses producing sustainable commodities offer the potential to restore nature and landscapes, fight climate change, and create jobs. But many of these companies in sub-Saharan Africa face barriers that prevent them from scaling up, due to limited access to markets and finance.
The Markets Readiness Technical Assistance Facility (MRTA) is supporting agribusinesses to reach commercial scale as part of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), a country-led effort to bring 100 million hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes across Africa into restoration by 2030.
Through a local team of experts, MRTA provides tailored support to growing agri-businesses in areas such as financial modelling, business plan development, and strategic planning. The team also helps businesses to access markets by connecting them with buyers of sustainable commodities. Finally, the team connects their portfolio with mission-aligned investors to help them secure affordable growth capital.
Restoration Champions: Leading the Way
The MRTA team has selected 20 promising agri-businesses, known as ‘Restoration Champions’, that are delivering land restoration activities across three priority landscapes: the Ghana Cocoa Belt, Kenya’s Greater Rift Valley, and the Lake Kivu & Rusizi River Basin of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
These landscapes were chosen by the Restore Local project for their high agroecological importance to people, nature, and climate, but they suffer from decades of degradation and declining crop yields. The acceleration of climate change is making this threat even more dire. MRTA supports agri-businesses in these regions to adopt and scale agroforestry systems by integrating trees into agricultural landscapes, regenerating soil health, enhancing water retention, and increasing biodiversity.
MRTA’s first cohort includes businesses that are producing sustainable commodities through regenerative farming techniques, including cocoa, coffee, fruits like avocado and mango, nuts like macadamia, and gum-arabic, a natural tree fibre that is used in foods.
Identifying Commodities with High Environmental and Social Impact Potential
To build its initial cohort of 20 Restoration Champions, the MRTA team started by prioritising commodities with high restoration, social impact and market growth potential, as well as opportunities to enter consumer markets in the US and Europe. Outreach in these regions identified over 100 possible agri-business and small businesses, which were then reduced to 20 Restoration Champions based on their financial mobilisation potential, alignment with MRTA’s landscape and commodity focus, operational capacity, and impact potential. Many of these leading organizations have received financial and technical support from TerraFund, a financing initiative led by World Resources Institute.
Scaling Agroforestry Models to Produce Climate Smart Cocoa in Ghana
One of these Restoration Champions is Afarinick Company Limited (Afarinick), a Ghanaian agribusiness which promotes regenerative practices among smallholder cocoa farmers. Afarinick offers training and assistance in planting and maintaining trees and rehabilitating cocoa farms. MRTA is providing expertise to help them develop a comprehensive business plan, business case and financial model, so they can implement a climate-smart agroforestry model. This will enable Afarinick to engage partners and support their objective to transition 5,000 hectares of rehabilitated cocoa farms into cocoa agroforestry.
MRTA is also supporting the Village Nut Company, a Kenyan agribusiness which sources macadamia nuts from farmers and processes the kernels for export to international markets. MRTA is supporting the company to diversify its product range by supporting the development of their business case to pilot the production of organic macadamia nuts, a premium product which fetches a better price for farmers and processors. The transition aims to produce macadamia sustainably, enhance biodiversity, and deliver positive environmental impact.
Support for Local Agribusinesses to Reach Commercial Scale
Over the next nine months, MRTA will provide the Restoration Champions with tailored ‘investment readiness’ support to help them scale their businesses, access priority markets, and secure affordable growth capital.
The team of in-country experts will work with them to identify investors that can provide funding to scale up their agroforestry systems and design new sustainable product lines such as organic products and premium regenerative product lines. The team will then support these businesses to identify off-takers to buy sustainably produced commodities in key consumer markets.
By supporting these agribusinesses, MRTA is scaling regenerative agriculture practices, enhancing the livelihoods of local communities, improving food security, increasing climate change resilience and mitigation, and reducing rural poverty.
For details about the full cohort see below…
Great Rift Valley and Lake Kivu
Acacia: Acacia EPZ is a Kenyan company established in 2015, focused on the sustainable harvesting of gum arabic from native acacia trees. Over the past decade, Acacia has successfully sourced, processed, and exported gum arabic to Europe. The company employs the Dukawala Model, which utilizes local shops as aggregation hubs for gum collection through a decentralized network of over 7,000 gum collectors. Acacia aims to enhance its production and operational capacity to meet the growing global demand for gum arabic.
Afrex Gold: Afrex Gold is an exporter of premium fruits and vegetables, specializing in avocados, with operations based in East Africa. Established 25 years ago, the company has built a strong reputation in the avocado value chain, primarily exporting avocados to both regional and international markets. Currently, Afrex Gold is focused on expanding its market reach and improving its shipping capabilities.
Biofarms: Biofarms Ltd. is a Kenyan horticultural exporting company established in 2014, specializing in the production, packaging, and supply of premium quality fruits for the export market, with a primary focus on fresh avocados, mangoes, and passion fruits. Biofarms is a high-growth business with huge potential to scale its operations as they tap into value-added products. They are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing global market for sustainably sourced produce, with a portfolio that includes organic and Rainforest Alliance certified products.
Exotic EPZ: Exotic EPZ is a seasoned macadamia nut processor in Kenya, established in 2017, exporting kernels to international markets. After being impacted by global macadamia price fluctuations, the company plans to diversify into value-added product lines. The company also aims to increase its production capacity to meet the demands of its off takers.
Goshen Farm Exporters: Goshen is an experienced fruit processor in Kenya that transitioned from export of fresh horticulture produce to value addition of tropical fruits. The company is well-positioned for growth and is currently expanding its value addition facilities to include additional processing and temperature-controlled storage facilities.
Orchard Juice: Orchard Juice is a Kenyan company specializing in producing 100% natural, freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices. With over 20 years of experience in the fruit juice and pulp industry, the company has evolved from a mother-daughter-run business to a high-growth business with aims to scale its production capacity, streamline operational efficiency, and enhance its presence in the export market.
Privamnuts EPZ: Established in 2011, is a macadamia nut processor based in Kenya. The company sources in-shell macadamia nuts from smallholder farmers across various counties in Kenya and processes and exports both raw conventional and organic kernels to international markets. PrivamNuts is currently seeking to expand its production of both conventional and organic macadamia nuts.
Tropical Mac EPZ: Tropical Mac EPZ, incorporated in 2018, aggregates and processes macadamia nuts sourced from smallholder farmers in Kenya, exporting high-quality kernels to international markets. Tropical Mac is a high-growth business with plans to diversify its operations as they venture into value-added macadamia oil, strengthening its market position. The business aims to capitalize on the growing market for sustainably sourced organic macadamia. Tropical Mac is also committed to climate-smart practices, integrating solar energy into its operations, and utilizing discarded macadamia shells to fuel its production line.
The Village Nut: Established in 2013, The Village Nut Company is a family-owned business founded by six siblings. The company set-up was an inspiration by the family matriarch as a continuation of her youth empowerment and community engagement towards the growth of Ngaini Village. The business specializes in seedling production, macadamia nut aggregation, processing, and exporting to international markets but also actively contributes to the betterment of local communities. The Village Nut Company aims to diversify into organic macadamia processing, capitalizing on its growing global demand for more sustainably sourced produce, presenting significant market opportunities.
The MRTA team visiting Afrex Gold on a field trip to their nurseries.
Ghana’s Cocoa Belt
ABOCFA: ABOCFA is a licensed farmer-owned Cooperative which produces high quality Organic and Fairtrade cocoa for its end clients. Since its inception in 2010, ABOCFA has established a strong track record of promoting sustainable farming practices and supporting smallholder farmers. The organization employs an innovative and scalable business model that prioritizes social, economic, and environmental impacts within rural cocoa communities. Currently, ABOCFA is looking to expand its operations by engaging with additional buyers and attracting further investment.
Adom Cocoa: Operational in 2018, Adom Cocoa is a farmer–owned Licensed Buying Company in Ghana. Adom Cocoa sources cocoa from their farmers and sells to their clients. Farmer incomes are supplemented by premiums from certified beans and Adom Cocoa’s farmer owned profit-sharing model. The company aims to secure additional buyers and investors willing to support them scale their operations on ground.
Adikanfo: Adikanfo is a private-owned cocoa Licensed Buying Company (LBC) in Ghana that sources sustainable cocoa from smallholder cocoa farmers and delivers the cocoa to its clients and to the Ghana COCOBOD. The company operates in six out of the seven cocoa growing regions in Ghana, and delivers strong social and environmental impact. The company is seeking to increase its market outreach to ensure farmers are getting the benefits of sustainable farming through premiums.
Afarinick: Afarinick is an agri-forest landscape and farm management support service company operating in Ghana. Operational in 2021, Afarinick provides farmers with training in farm rehabilitation, tree planting, and implementing cocoa agroforestry models. Afarinick is leading rehabilitation of cocoa farms in the Ghana cocoa belt with the aim to replenish farms and improve cocoa productivity for increased benefits for smallholder farmers. The company seeks support to expand its farm rehabilitation service.
Yayra Glover: Yayra Glover Limited, a privately-owned organic cocoa producer and Licensed Buying Company, has been driving high-growth operations in Ghana for 17 years, supplying premium organic cocoa to international markets. With ambitious plans for diversification, the company is expanding into nut processing and the production of banana and plantain chips through its subsidiary, Yayra Glover Foods and Beverages Limited. To enhance farmer livelihoods beyond the cocoa season, the subsidiary has established two processing facilities that source additional produce from its network of 5000 organic-certified farmers. Furthermore, Yayra Glover Limited aims to establish Africa’s first exclusive organic primary processing plant, which will add value to cocoa beans and significantly enhance revenue within the local value chain, thereby promoting sustainable cocoa production. The company now seeks mission-aligned investors to scale its organic cocoa production and realize its transformative growth initiatives.
Kukuom Cooperative: Operational since 2012, Kukuom Cooperative is farmer-owned and has been operating as a medium-size business, exporting Fairtrade cocoa to international markets. The cooperative seeks to scale up their Fairtrade cocoa production and export business into additional markets.
Rehabilitation taking place on one of Afarinick’s farms.
Rusizi Basin and Lake Kivu
ETS JB Consult: ETS JB Consult and Advisory is a coffee processing in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) specializing in specialty coffee. The company processes the coffee and sells it to the local market in DRC. The company also provides good agricultural practices to maintain organic and specialty coffee. The company is looking to tap into the export market to secure premium prices and further incentivize smallholder coffee farmers.
FDINDA: FDINDA Ltd grows and distributes macadamia seedlings in Western Rwanda. Established since 2005, FDINDA Ltd and its founder Nocolas Ndagijimana are the pioneer of macadamia in Rwanda. The company operates a macadamia plantation, which are harvested and sold to the local market in partnership with the Rwanda Nuts Company. The company seeks support to scale-up its operation by aggregating macadamia from smallholder farmers. FDINDA Ltd also ventures in other different farming lines such as organic fertilizer production and livestock. For FDINDA Ltd to start macadamia nuts in-shell aggregation from its beneficiaries, is looking to set up a macadamia dryer and start value addition.
J&R Engineering: J&R Engineering sells nursery grown indigenous trees and fruit trees to local smallholder farmers and farmer cooperatives. J&R also offers farmers extension services that include how to implement sustainable farming techniques, cover cropping and agroforestry to enhance crop yields while mitigating negative environmental impact. J&R also works with corporates and other partners to design and execute customized land rehabilitation programs aimed at addressing specific land degradation challenges in its operational areas in Rwanda. J&R Engineering also aggregates fresh jumbo avocadoes that are sold locally.
Kula Project Investment (KPI): KPI is a coffee producing company that aggregates single origin specialty coffee from smallholder farmers in western Rwanda and exports to customers, both locally and internationally. KPI Investment Ltd seeks to expand its processing capacity and to scale up its operation over the next few years.
Mubuga Bio Coffee: Mubuga Bio Coffee is a company that partners with the local communities in the Mubuga sector of Rwanda’s Western Province to cultivate organic and specialty coffee on the local community's land and exports to buyers abroad. Mubuga seeks support in expanding production and international market outreach.