Small-Scale Grants
The Missing Middle Initiative (MMI) responds to an urgent need for additional program support to farmers' organizations, producer organizations, and small and medium enterprises and, as such, piloted ways to provide these specific entities with funding and capacity building to test out their ideas and projects.
All of the project concepts originate from producer organizations themselves and, together with the selected Supervising Entity partner, they design the project proposals, coordinate to submit and then continue the partnership through implementation. The MMI is designed for smallholder farmers and their organizations to thrive. In everything we do, we ensure our partner organizations receive better access to finance, technology, and markets. We also provide enhanced managerial, governance and technical capacity, and crowding-in of additional resources from the private sector actors in the agriculture value chains.
Moving forward under GAFSP’s revised operational model, in addition to public and private sector actors, producer organizations will be eligible to apply directly for grant financing.
View MMI GuidelinesUsing the eGranary Mobile Platform to Deliver Economic Services to Farmers in East Africa
In Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, GAFSP is providing $2.61 million to support the Eastern Africa Farmers’ Federation (EAFF), working with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to use mobile platforms to deliver services to farmers. This innovative communication and payment platform will create a virtual space for the brokering of commercial partnerships and contracts between farmers and off-takers and input dealers. For every dollar invested by GAFSP, $1.90 will be leveraged from the private sector. It is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2018.
Project Design DocumentImproved Quality and Quality Processing for Improved Nutrition and Increased Farmer Development in Mali
A second project in Mali was awarded $3 million to strengthen four main rice producer organizations. Socodevi and Malo, working with the World Food Programme (WFP), will improve producers’ organizations’ ability to provide value-added services for members, ultimately improving the quality of paddy and milled rice and commencing fortified rice production, and attracting private sector investment in the rice supply chain. For every dollar invested by GAFSP, $2.40 will be leveraged from local banks. It launched in April 2018.
Project Design DocumentKnowledge-Sharing Across Projects
In October 2019, the first MMI workshop took place in Dakar, Senegal, bringing together stakeholders from the five projects –producer organizations, project implementing partners, Supervising Entities, and GAFSP Steering Committee CSO representatives– to discuss and exchange lessons learned and to provide monitoring and evaluation support. The workshop helped project teams identify operational challenges and opportunities, clarify partner roles and responsibilities, share knowledge, and capture transferable lessons. A second MMI learning workshop will take place in 2021.
View Workshop ReportExplore Recent Stories
The Missing Middle Initiative
With global hunger rising and farmer incomes declining, family farmers must be at the center of their own development.
From the Cow to the Customer – Women Farmers in Bangladesh Organize Themselves
It all started when Renu Bala, a dairy farmer from the village of Panjor Bhanga in northern Bangladesh, went from house-to-house to pitch her idea to create a cooperative. Today, more than 40 women have joined her dairy co-op, and collect more than 200 liters of milk per day, which they sell to local sweet shops and milk processing companies at premium prices – bringing in a profit. Read how one dairy cooperative is growing with funds from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP).
Helping Producer Organizations Boost Agriculture in Senegal
With support from GAFSP, smallholder family farmers will have the resources they need to improve their livelihoods. This includes access to funds, capacity building, technology, and public-private partnerships.
