Selected Topic

Supporting resilient and sustainable supply chains.

Project Description

In Kenya, MEDA is working with SMEs and entrepreneurs in horticulture, poultry and aquaculture providing innovation grants for environmentally sustainable agriculture practices (ESAP) to access inputs needed for these value chains. As examples of this approach on ensuring crop production systems do not accelerate or cause new soil erosion, degradation, worsen economic or social inequalities, exceed water resource replenishment rates, or are otherwise unsustainable or degrade natural resources:

Chicken basket to install a poultry biodigester and use the by product to provide lighting to the facility, and Rio Fish where we are looking to promote modern fish smoking technology from the traditional way of smoking using firewood/charcoal.

Another example from Tanzania, where MEDA provided an award to incentive NovFeed to continue growing and allowing the protein to be acessible to more farmers: NovFeed is a biotech company its officially registered and incorporated in 2020. NovFeed has Developed a biotechnological platform designed to transform organic waste into alternative protein ingredients. The company uses natural microbes and industrial biotech that turns organic waste into a highly concentrated protein product with a focus on making nutritious, customizable inputs for the food system, thus enabling meat and aquaculture sectors to get food products.
In the Philippines, MEDA is implementing a project in the cacao sector and incentivizing the use of biodiversity assessments to better understand the impact of changing land use / environment, and farming practices have on local biodiversity, and the relation of biodiversity with crop productivity. Biodiversity assessments and implementation of solutions are not always price accessible. For this reason, MEDA is piloting the use of carbon credits to incentivize practices like soil health management and biodiversity conservation; shade management and biodiversity; safety and health of farmers; and mindset change.

A pilot innovation currently being developed by MEDA and a carbon trading company (KenEco – a subsidiary of a large cacao trading company, Kennemer). The focus of this initiative is to leverage carbon trading as an innovative approach to incentivize cacao producers to adopt sustainable agricultural and resource management practices, ultimately contributing to the mitigation of climate change impacts. This carbon trading initiative is in partnership with a RIISA cooperative (Malabog Integrated Enterprises Development Cooperative). The payment scheme is defined by both the trading company and RIISA partner cooperative–essentially to support the livelihood of cacao farmers and the cacao business of the cooperative.

The rationale behind this approach lies in the significant economic and environmental benefits offered by tree crops such as cocoa. By encouraging small producers to cultivate cocoa under tree canopies, a continuous cash income can be generated from fruit harvesting. This practice helps prevent the burning of forested areas and the destruction of biodiversity habitats, which provides an immediate solution for carbon sequestration. In this way, carbon sequestration can become an additional source of income for farmers, complementing their existing crops.

Another example is from Nicaragua, where MEDA provided a financial incentive to De La Finca. DeLaFinca is an award-winning coffee brand, farm, processor and café chain led by husband and wife partners, Mayerling Gurdián and Heberto Rivas. With MEDA’s incentive, DeLaFinca purchased a coffee roasting machine, obtained export permits and international coffee certification for tasting, and established a coffee ‘lab’ to test and analyze different coffee beans and processes in order to allow the company to strengthen its continuous improvement capacity while providing rapid feedback to coffee bean producers. The lab allowed DeLaFinca to create an innovative and environmentally friendly product using coffee pulp in a carbonated beverage called “Cherry Cola”. MEDA’s incentive was to use technology applied from the farm, in processing techniques, coffee drying and reuse of pulp; as well as the sustainable quality approach that generates benefits throughout the chain. All of this led to the company receiving Excellence Award 2022 provided by a nationally broadcast television program of financial impact and the Central America’s SME of the Year award sponsored by BAC Credomatic, a leading private bank in Central America.

A business that has been a pioneer in promoting a change in the consumption behavior of Nicaraguan coffee through a culture of excellence and sustainable quality throughout the chain and processes of production, processing and marketing of its products, maximizing the benefits to all stakeholders within the company, from the planting of the seed to the preparation of the cup. Founded in 2012 by the fourth generation of a family of small coffee producers, with more than 100 years of experience and tradition, in the town of San Juan de Rio Coco, department of Madriz, began operations in 2013 focusing on processing its coffee and selling it packaged in the corporate segment.

About the Institution

MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) is an international economic development organization that combats poverty by creating business solutions that are sustainable, scalable, measurable, and replicable. The organization is celebrating 70 years this year and it has worked in over 70 countries supporting entrepreneurs in the producing, processing and marketing of food crops, livestock, poultry and aquaculture. MEDA’s approach is to expand choices and opportunities for entrepreneurs to achieve systems change in the agri-food markets they are operating.

In 2020, MEDA launched a bold strategic plan called “Towards an Equal World,” which aims to create or sustain decent work for 500,000 people in emerging economies by 2030 while focusing its programs on women and youth in the agri-food market system. To achieve this, MEDA is working on creating market systems that are inclusive and sustainable by providing business and technical expertise as well as blended finance to small entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises. In all its projects, MEDA also follows principles of gender equality and social inclusion, innovation and technology adoption, partnership and contextual knowledge, and environmental sustainability and climate actions to create sustainable solutions and address the systemic inequalities between gender and social groups in the agriculture sector.