EKN FOOD SECURITY LEARNING

EVENT

HOSTED

BY

ICCO COOPERATION

FOOD SECURITY AND RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUND (FSRE-FUND)

FSRE-Fund Management TeamDecember, 2015

FOOD SECURITY AND RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FUND (FSRE-FUND)

• The FSRE-Fund is financed by Dutch Embassy and it

supports agricultural innovations in Ethiopia

• The initiative emerged from the AgriProFocus Ethiopia

network around 2011, particularly from organizations

active in the Ethiopia Learning Alliance including

AgriProFocus, KIT and ICCO Cooperation.

• ICCO is managing the fund on behalf of APF

Purpose

• The overall objective of FSRE-Fund is to enhance Food Security of the farming households and Rural entrepreneurship

• The progress in achieving this objective related to two main benchmarks:

• Increased Food Security;

• Increased investments, incomes/profits and

jobs.

Purpose Continued

• It provides financial support for innovative agricultural projects that aim to improve the food security of farming families and enhance income, investment and jobs in smallholder farmers, POs, and SMEs linked to smallholder farmers

Funding Windows

• The Fund provides grants through two windows of

funding; Innovation and Matching Grant Funds

Innovation Fund-

- Innovation Fund: supports innovations in agricultural production and value chains that put a new idea or technology into use.

Innovation Fund

• The intervention is considered as innovation when it improves how things are done, is economically viable and is applied by a significant number of people/organizations

- A fund amount ranges from €30,000 up to

€100,000 per project for a year

Matching Grants Fund • It is a complementary fund to the innovation fund

and it requires partners to provide a 50% proportion of own contribution

- Major differences between the two funding windows:

• Applicants are expected to contribute 50% of the proposed budget

• Admin costs are not considered

- A fund amount ranges between €20,000 up to

€40,000 per project for a year

Value chains and geographic focus

• Wide range of commodities at start: silk, taro, apiculture, turmeric, dairy, coffee, aloe, animal fattening, etc.

• Focus on four value chains for all calls from call 3 onward; Poultry, Potatoes, Fruit &Vegetables, Aquaculture

• Open geographic focus

Eligible applicants

Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s),

Producer Organisations (POs),

Cooperatives,

NGOs (mainly involving in value chain development),

Research Organisations (e.g. Universities),

Chambers of Commerce

Business Associations and

MFIs.

Achievements against targets

• Targets- 42 innovation fund projects - 48 Matching grant fund projects

• Actual - 39 Innovation fund projects - 24 matching grant fund projects

Example of Funded Innovative Activities- Purchase of automatic Bees Wax

foundation sheet making machine- Purchase of hatchery and setter machine - Purchase of reeling, spinning and weaving

machines - Purchase of chickpea cleaning machine- Grain store construction - Misting system development for fruit

seedling production

Funded Innovative Activities Continued - Spawn lab development- Purchase of Turmeric Polisher and grinder- Cold storage development - Purchase of chickpea cleaning machine - Fish fingerlings production - Aquaculture training center development - Potato seed production - Purchase of poultry feed processing

machine.

Funded Innovative Activities Continued - Purchase of coffee pulping machine - Rhizobium application for chickpea

productivity enhancement - Out growers scheme development- Farmers training on agronomic practices

and marketing - Coops development, etc.

Achievements Continued

• FSRE-Fund enabled winner innovators to

envision bigger

• It enabled the partners, especially SMEs to do

what they can’t do with their own saving

• It improved the way NGO partners look at

development interventions

Achievements Continued

• Funded innovation and matching grant fund

projects have huge potential to contribute

for increased food production

• At least 35 of the funded projects have high

potential to enhance availability of nutritious

food

Achievements Continued

• Funded projects created/will create about 2000 job

opportunities

• 6 private companies with a potential to export their

products are financed

• The funded projects are expected to improve the

food security status of at least 30,000 rural

households

Achievements Continued

• Three of the FSRE-Fund supported private

companies are identified for ICCO

Cooperation Agri-business booster program

and they are expected to successfully

graduate for ICCO investment

Major Lessons- Having thematic focus enhances visibility,

facilitates effective peer learning among innovators and enhances the chance to create linkages with other Dutch supported initiatives

- Proofing success of innovations takes longer time

Major Challenges

• Long import process

• Difficulties for some innovators in getting access to power grid

• NGO partners have difficulties in creating access to effective market

• Most Private Sector partners have difficulties in mobilizing farmers and organizing out growers

Major Challenges Continued

• Limited contributions of Matching Grant

Fund for scaling up and adoption of

innovations.

• The start-up of some innovations failed

because the invention was not properly

tested in field situations

Major Challenges Continued

- Working on large number of value

chains hindered us from fully involving

sector specialist in the appraisal of applications

Conclusions

• In spite of the challenges FSRE-Fund

progressed well towards its intended

objectives

• FSRE-Funded projects have huge

potential to yield great return on

investment

• FSRE Fund creates a dynamic and

entrepreneurial attitude among applicants

leading to more value for money.

Conclusions continued

• We need to scale up successful

innovations for bigger impact

• Finding effective ways of creating

synergy between innovators

• There is a need to strengthening cross-

fertilizations with other Dutch

supported programs.

Questions to Groups

1. We know that malnutrition has life-long detrimental impacts. What innovation topics or strategies do you recommend for innovation funding in the future which contribute to food and nutrition security?

Questions to Groups Continued

2. FSRE-Fund supports innovation projects with potential for scaling up. How can we make sure that other actors will take up successful innovations?

Questions to Groups Continued

3. We have learnt that non-for profit organizations are better in organizing farmers while for-profit organizations have difficulties in this. On the other hand for-profit organizations are good in creating market linkages which is not an easy task for NGOs. What strategies can help us for addressing these challenges?

Questions to Groups Continued

4. How can we organize to share technicalexpertise? e.g. one expert coming for project x while project a, b and c could also use thisexpertise.

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