DFCD supports climate smart agriculture in Zambia

The Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD) investment committee has approved a proposal to support Stewards Globe Limited (“SGL”) Afriseed – Stewards Globe in building Zambia’s smallholder farmers’ climate resilience through the provision of climate resilient seeds and extension services.

The development of the investment proposal will enable SGL to introduce climate-smart agricultural practices to about 700 new smallholder out-growers who, together with an existing base of 1,300 out-growers, are instrumental in propagating seed various seeds developed by the company. The proposed development is meant to help de-risk planned investment into the expansion of climate-resilient seed production and processing.

In light of the foregoing, SNV intends to sign a EUR 291,000 grant funding agreement with SGL to support the final development of the investment proposal. Additionally, SNV will provide a technical assistance package.

Facilitating access to and effective use of climate-resilient improved seed varieties (tolerant to drought and pests) will increase farm productivity and household incomes.

The SGL project has a Rio-Marker 2 score for adaptation. The project will increase resilience to the impacts of climate change by using climate-resilient crops or diversifying production to better cope with the impacts of climate change.

Under this proposed project, smallholder farmers will be provided access to drought and pest-tolerant seed varieties and linkage to weather-based index insurance providers, enabling farmers to adapt to negative climatic conditions.

The outputs of the origination project will include the following:

• Training in climate-smart practices such as conservation agriculture, intercropping practices, and legume crop rotations to foster climate change adaptation and mitigation.

• Market study report, Strategic growth and Bankable business plan.

• Export strategy, as well as the establishment of input and retail pricing of seed in the market

• Environmental & Social Safeguarding Assessment.

• Gender Equality & Social Inclusion (GESI) Assessment

• Capacity building training for the staff to provide sustainable extension services to Smallholder seed growers.

• Development of an out-grower scheme to recruit an additional 700 smallholder growers in the production of climate-resilient seed supply for the cereal, legume and oilseed value chains

• Digitisation of company operations (E-extension, digital marketing).

• Assessment report on the impact of reducing input subsidy on the income for smallholder farmers due to the expected increased price of seeds.

The expected outcomes of the investment proposal will be:

• Sequestration of GHG emissions amounting to 480,000 tCo2eq per annum.

• Increased adaptive capacity of ecosystems and livelihoods against climate change for the 2,400ha, of land under sustainable management or other climate-smart practices.

• 555 jobs created, of which 185 will be direct, full-time, and 370 will be direct, part-time.

  • In direct employment, women constitute about 50% of staff, while in indirect job creation, women make up about 75%.

• Total Indirect employment will be 2,400 people.

• 12,000 total programme participants from the expansion of the project.

About the DFCD

The Dutch Fund for Climate and Development is a 160 million Euro fund from The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to improve the resiliency of the most vulnerable landscapes, ecosystems, and communities through climate change adaptation. The DFCD is managed by a pioneering consortium of Climate Fund Managers (CFM), Worldwide Fund for Nature Netherlands (WWF-NL) and SNV, led by the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, FMO. For more information, please visit the DFCD website.

About SNV

SNV is a mission-driven global development partner working in more than 20 countries across Africa and Asia. Building on 60 years of experience and grounded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we work on the core themes of gender equality and social inclusion, climate adaptation and mitigation, and strong institutions and effective governance. Together with our team of over 1,600 people, our mission is to strengthen capacities and catalyse partnerships that transform the agri-food, energy, and water systems, which enable sustainable and more equitable lives for all.

About Stewards Globe Limited

Stewards Globe Limited (SGL), whose brand name AFRISEED, is a diversified agricultural seed company that has been operating since 2011 in Zambia; the company has been producing and marketing climate-resilient improved seed varieties of cereals (maize, rice and sorghum), legumes (groundnut, soybean, cowpea, beans and pigeon pea), oil (sunflower) and forage crops using contract farming under an out-grower scheme of 1,300 small-scale farmers as part of the supply chain sourcing strategy. 36% of these small-scale farmers are females, and about 20% of these farmers are youth.

SGL has over ten years of experience in seed production, distribution and marketing; with demonstrated ability to provide capacity-building initiatives for vulnerable community-based producer groups (25-50 members) who are contracted and pre-financed with input packs. As an institutional buyer, SGL aggregates the raw seed produced in rural bulking centres; where the raw seed is processed and packaged in Afriseed branded bags before selling them to various government subsidy programs, NGOs, International Development Organizations and Agro Dealers countrywide, reaching over 150,000 small-scale farmers in Zambia. You can read the full disclosure document here.

For more information and if you want to share any confidential information you may have regarding the intended project or company, please contact:

SNV - Dutch Fund for Climate and Development: Mr Tigere Muzenda, tmuzenda@snv.org