Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness

The Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness Technical Assistance Facility (CASA TAF) will partner with investors to assess and demonstrate how inclusive technical assistance can strengthen the commercial viability and development impact of agribusinesses that source from smallholders.

Drawing on TechnoServe’s extensive experience of managing the African Agricultural Fund’s Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) for past seven years, and with funding from the Department of International Development, the CASA-TAF will select medium and large-sized agribusinesses from investor portfolios. Over five years, the CASA-TAF will work with these businesses to address the companies’ needs when engaging smallholders – from farmer extension and access to farm inputs, to mechanization and climate-smart agriculture. The project aims to benefit over 100,000 smallholders with a total SHF income increase of $17 million.

TechnoServe will convene investors – from Development Finance Institutions to Private Equity players – to demonstrate the commercial and social impact that strategic technical assistance (TA) can have. The overall objective is to raise investor expectations regarding the level of development impact for future investments, and increase the provision of development impact TA provided by investors.

Read the Review of Inclusive Technical Assistance in Agriculture Deployed by Development Finance Institutions full report. You can also learn more about testing of TechnoServe’s Inclusive Business Plan (IBP) methodology here.