Nuru
Helping farmers thrive in climate- and conflict-affected countries in Africa
The Trafigura Foundation is advancing climate-resilient development through an initiative to provide tailored financial and advisory services to African smallholder farming cooperatives.
The challenge
Farming communities in many parts of the world are vulnerable to poverty, the impacts of climate change and food insecurity. The factors undermining their resilience are often the same: limited access to finance and markets, lack of farming inputs and training, and disruptive shifts in rainfall and temperatures.
In parts of West Africa, rural communities also face political instability and conflict, which disrupts farming activities and supply chains, drives displacement and competition over land and water, and can leave communities at the mercy of violent extremist groups.
The solution
Nuru works with communities in fragile, conflict-affected communities to strengthen locally-led cooperative agribusinesses, providing them with business development services, access to finance and markets, and training in farming practices such as crop diversification and soil conservation.
The aim is to enable farmers to realise their collective strength, build their resilience and increase their food production and economic potential in ways that can be sustained for the long term.
Since 2008, the Nuru Collective has worked with more than 300 cooperatives across five countries – Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. Support from the Trafigura Foundation will help Nuru extend its proven model to more parts of West Africa.
Partnership impact
Through the partnership, Nuru will scale its support to cooperatives in Ghana and establish operations in Benin, Niger and Togo. Its concrete goals include:
- Supporting 75 farming cooperatives to reach a total of 60,000 people
- Helping 70% of the cooperatives’ farmers to adopt climate resilient practices
- Raising farmers’ yields and incomes by 30%
