A study to better understand technical assistance in the agricultural impact investment sector

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SSNUP published the first study on the technical assistance provided by impact investors to agricultural value chain actors. It is based on data from 13 impact investors on 243 technical assistance projects carried out with their current or potential investees.  

The study aims to build a common understanding of technical assistance within the agricultural impact investment sector, by describing the main characteristics and trends of this mode of intervention. 

As the SSNUP coordinator, ADA organised a webinar on 7 March to present the main insights and trends of this study. 

Among the main results: 

• Based on the study sample, a typical technical assistance project implemented by an impact investor with an agricultural value chain actor has a budget of EUR 33.300 (median), lasts 14 months (median), is delivered post-investment (80% of projects) and focuses on crops (86% of projects), especially cash crops (62,5% of projects); 
• Most beneficiary organisations of these technical assistance projects are in growth stage (49%), 26% are in mature stage while only 19% are in early stage. Yet, supporting early-stage organisations, including pre-investment, has a significant impact. 

Among conclusions and recommendations: 

• Higher risk perception is a barrier to implementing more pre-investment technical assistance projects for impact investors. Therefore, other entities might be better suited to facilitate the graduation of agriSMEs and cooperatives into investment-ready opportunities; 
• Adopting a more holistic and flexible approach in the way of designing and implementing technical assistance projects, taking into account the general situation of beneficiary organisations rather than focusing on a single specific issue, might allow these organisations make the best of the assistance received.