The Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) has secured an additional $90 million in committed capital to expand investments in climate-resilient agribusinesses across Africa. The funding will support the growth of businesses that help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change while extending the fund’s operations into North Africa, where millions of farmers continue to face increasing climate risks.
The new commitment builds on ARAF’s first fund, launched in 2020 as the world’s first equity fund dedicated to strengthening the climate resilience of smallholder farmers. Since then, ARAF has invested in 12 fast-growing agribusinesses across East and West Africa, directly reaching more than three million farmers. More than 80 percent of those farmers have reported improvements in both their incomes and crop yields. The fund now aims to create direct impact for at least four million additional farmers.
Expanding Investment to Strengthen Food Security
Smallholder farmers produce nearly 80 percent of Africa’s food, making them central to the continent’s food security. However, droughts, floods and increasingly unpredictable weather continue to threaten production. Limited access to finance, agricultural inputs, technical support and markets has made it even harder for farming communities to withstand these challenges.
ARAF was established to bridge that gap by investing in scalable food and agribusinesses whose business models help farmers adapt to climate change while improving productivity and long-term resilience.
“Climate change is a fact of life and climate resilience for farmers is the difference between a good season and the risk of losing everything,” said Tamer El-Raghy, Managing Director of ARAF.
He said the additional capital would allow the fund to continue supporting climate resilience while delivering financial returns for investors as it expands beyond East and West Africa into North Africa, where millions of farmers are already experiencing the effects of climate change.
Acumen President and Chief Investment Officer Carsten Stendevad said ARAF has already shown that climate resilience can deliver measurable investment outcomes.
“ARAF proved that resilience is investable, not theoretical,” he said. “We’re bringing more blended capital and more partners to the table to help smallholder farmers across Africa adapt to a changing climate. This is the kind of capital the moment demands.”
New Investors Back the Fund’s Next Phase
The latest funding round has attracted support from both returning and new investors. Returning anchor investors include the Green Climate Fund (GCF), FMO and Proparco, which have supported ARAF since its launch. They are joined by new investors Swedfund, BIO, FASA and a family office investor.
The Green Climate Fund said its continued investment reflects confidence in the fund’s ability to strengthen climate resilience across Africa’s agricultural sector.
“Through our ongoing partnership with Acumen, we have demonstrated how blended finance can mobilize private capital for climate-resilient agriculture,” said Catherin Koffman, Director of the Africa Region at the Green Climate Fund.
“Such financing supports innovative agribusinesses and strengthens the resilience of smallholder farmers and agricultural supply chains. GCF is increasing its commitment to expand the fund’s geographic reach and scale up climate-resilient investments for farmers, who are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.”
Managed by Acumen Capital Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Acumen, ARAF continues to position investment as a practical solution to one of Africa’s biggest agricultural challenges. By backing businesses that improve farmers’ resilience to climate change, the fund is helping strengthen food production, improve rural incomes and build more sustainable agricultural systems across the continent.
