The leading charity – which works with farmers and small businesses to unlock the transformative potential of sustainable and effective agriculture – has also helped 70,000 smallholder farmers link to the services and markets they need to become commercially viable and used renewable energy, agroforestry and table banking to help flower growers in Kenya build resilience to climate change.
Headline stats from Farm Africa’s Annual Review 2023 include the charity helping 319,101 people improve their resilience to the effects of climate change across 19 different projects; supporting 188,921 to enhance their production practices across 12 projects; and extending £922,343 worth of finance to individuals, businesses and enterprises across eight projects.
Farm Africa receives income principally from three sources: grants from governments, institutions and other major donors to fund specific projects (restricted funding); corporate sponsorship income via its trading subsidiary Farm Africa; and donations, legacies, and other fundraising activities (unrestricted funding).
Total income in 2023 was £11.0m (2022: £14.7m). The decrease reflects some large grants ending and the timing of receipts of new grants, with a significant amount of new grant income expected to be recognised in 2024.
Farm Africa’s expenditure falls into three main categories: direct costs of implementing programmes in eastern Africa; fundraising costs; and support costs, including head office staff and governance.
Total expenditure in 2023 was £14.3m (2022: £14.6m). Programme spend decreased by £0.7m to £12.5m (2022: £13.2m) due to major projects in Ethiopia ending, disruption due to conflict in Ethiopia and changes in exchange rates.
“Across the region, the challenges of extreme poverty, food insecurity and biodiversity loss are being intensified by climate change, global economic instability and political disruption,” says Farm Africa chair John Reizenstein.
“The good news is that there is potential for farming communities to build more resilient livelihoods. Working together, Farm Africa and farmers are unlocking this potential, enabling farmers to both grow their incomes and restore biodiversity.
“Longer term, we recognise that Africa has the ability to feed not only its own growing population but to be a major exporter to the rest of the world. As Bill Gates recently told the Financial Times Africa can be a net food exporter, even in the face of climate change.”
More information on Farm Africa can be found here.