Financing growth in Vietnam

In 2023, ECOM’s SMS team partnered with IDH Farmfit Fund – the world’s largest public-private impact fund for smallholder farmers – to provide access to inputs through affordable finance in Vietnam. Through the project, smallholder coffee farmers benefit from preferential loans/credit lines to access existing agronomic services and products, such as high-quality organic fertilisers and tailored nutrient packages as well as coffee and shade tree seedlings, all of which will improve their yields.

Repayment schemes and rates are individually tailored to the historical relationship with the producer, without a required commitment on the final coffee sale. All producers from the relevant district(s) can access this financing scheme, even if they are not part of ECOM’s network. Farmers also receive training and soil analysis to support optimisation of fertiliser use, enabling them to further increase their yields while limiting costs and emissions.

Alongside this, the project also distributed fruit tree seedlings to farmers to diversify their crops and acquire supplementary income streams, making them less dependent on the success of a single crop.

The programme successfully reached 493 farmers in 2023. The aim now is to expand the scheme into what we hope will become a self-sufficient business, supporting more coffee farmers to develop sustainable businesses.