INSTRUMENT ANALYSIS OCTOBER 2025 AGRI-SMALLHOLDER RESILIENCE FUND

The Agri-Smallholder Resilience Fund (ASRF) is a USD 22.5 million blended finance vehicle designed to address a USD 7 billion agricultural credit gap in the Philippines. Managed by the agri-tech platform Mayani, the fund utilizes a three-tier capital structure—comprising senior debt (50%), junior debt (30%), and catalytic first-loss capital (20%)—to provide loans to agri-aqua cooperatives. The ASRF employs a 'whole-of-value-chain' de-risking strategy that bundles working capital with parametric insurance, corporate offtake agreements, climate-smart inputs, and cold storage infrastructure. A USD 1 million pilot targeting 2,800 farmers in the Cordillera Mountain region will precede a full rollout aiming to reach 8,800 smallholders over five years. The fund targets a debtholder internal rate of return (IRR) of approximately 9% and projects annual greenhouse gas emission reductions of 4,400 to 10,600 tonnes of CO2e for the pilot phase.

• The Philippines faces a significant agricultural credit gap of approximately USD 7 billion, with less than 30% of smallholders having access to formal credit, often leaving them dependent on informal lenders with rates as high as 30% per month.
• The ASRF utilizes a blended capital stack to attract diverse investors: 50% is senior debt for commercial investors, 30% is junior debt for impact-first investors or DFIs, and 20% is catalytic first-loss capital from philanthropic or public sources to absorb early defaults.
• The fund's de-risking model integrates four verticals: working capital for climate-smart inputs to raise productivity by 30–50%, parametric insurance for automatic payouts during shocks, corporate offtake agreements for guaranteed markets, and cold storage to reduce post-harvest losses from approximately 30% to less than 10%.
• A USD 1 million pilot will be launched in the Cordillera Mountain region of the Philippines, specifically with the Taloy Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Buguias, Benguet, supporting 2,800 farmers across 2,800 hectares.
• Financial projections for the ASRF target a debtholder internal rate of return (IRR) of approximately 9% over six years, with a blended cost of capital estimated at 8.4% and an average Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) of 1.25x.
• The pilot project is projected to reduce or sequester between 4,400 and 10,600 tonnes of CO2e annually through organic inputs, soil sequestration, irrigation efficiency, and avoided replanting.
• The ASRF includes a gender strategy to direct at least 30% of loan allocations to women and reserve 30% of cooperative leadership seats for women.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2025). INSTRUMENT ANALYSIS OCTOBER 2025 AGRI-SMALLHOLDER RESILIENCE FUND. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Agri-Smallholder-Resilience-Fund_Vehicle-Analysis.pdf

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. INSTRUMENT ANALYSIS OCTOBER 2025 AGRI-SMALLHOLDER RESILIENCE FUND. 2025. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Agri-Smallholder-Resilience-Fund_Vehicle-Analysis.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=INSTRUMENT ANALYSIS OCTOBER 2025 AGRI-SMALLHOLDER RESILIENCE FUND |date=October 2025 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Agri-Smallholder-Resilience-Fund_Vehicle-Analysis.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2025instrument, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{INSTRUMENT ANALYSIS OCTOBER 2025 AGRI-SMALLHOLDER RESILIENCE FUND}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Agri-Smallholder-Resilience-Fund_Vehicle-Analysis.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }