About Us

The Agricultural Commodity Transformation (ACT) Fund is an impact investment fund, initiated by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).

Agriculture sits at the heart of global development. Yet millions of smallholder farmers remain underserved, while climate change and land degradation threaten farmer livelihood and food systems worldwide. The ACT Fund addresses this gap by financing and supporting agri-SMEs that drive inclusive growth, strengthen value chains, and enable the transition to regenerative agriculture.

The ACT Fund is a private credit fund providing trade finance, working capital and long-term debt financing to SMEs in agricultural commodity value chains across Africa, Latin America and Asia. Addressing a substantial unmet demand for financing, the ACT Fund allows these businesses to connect millions of smallholder farmers to attractive markets, create local economic value and support formal jobs in rural areas while preserving nature through regenerative agricultural practices.

The ACT Fund is a limited partnership established by the CFC, a United Nations affiliated intergovernmental financial institution based in the Netherlands.

The Fund extends a full range of debt financing to agri-SMEs committed to implementing inclusive and sustainable agricultural practices in their supply chains. Inclusive regenerative agriculture is at the heart of the ACT Fund’s transformative impact strategy. The nature-positive approach increases farmer productivity while restoring soils, biodiversity, and carbon stocks. Strengthening climate adaptation and resilience will contribute to creating secure food supply, stable livelihoods and robust ecosystems. ACT Fund will commit financing between USD 1.5 million and USD 5 million per investee.

The ACT Fund catalyses a transition towards inclusive regenerative agriculture—where farmers prosper, ecosystems are restored, and agricultural systems become more resilient.

The ACT Fund targets the financing gap faced by agri-SMEs that connect smallholder farmers to international markets, inputs, and services. By supporting these enterprises, we aim to improve livelihoods, enhance climate resilience, and contribute to sustainable land use at scale.

Our approach is aligned with global development priorities, including the Sustainable Development Goals, with a strong focus on:

• Improving smallholder incomes and livelihoods;
• Promoting sustainable land management and climate resilience;
• Strengthening inclusive and transparent value chains globally.

The fund focuses on five core Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 1, SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 13, and SDG 15. 

Invest

We provide flexible, impact-driven capital to agri-SMEs operating in emerging and frontier markets.

Through a blended finance structure, the ACT Fund deploys a range of financial instruments—including trade finance, working capital, and long-term growth capital—to meet the needs of growing enterprises across agricultural value chains.

Our investments focus on businesses that:

• Source from and serve smallholder farmers;
• Integrate or enable regenerative agricultural practices;
• Demonstrate strong potential for scalable impact and financial sustainability
• Enable access to export markets or strengthen globally inclusive value chains

By addressing market gaps and sharing risk, we unlock capital flows into sectors that are critical for sustainable development but often overlooked by traditional finance.

Capacity building

Capital alone is not enough. The ACT Fund pairs investment with targeted technical assistance to strengthen the impact and resilience of our partners.

Through the ACT Technical Assistance Facility, we support investees and their farmer networks to:

• Adopt and scale regenerative agricultural practices
• Strengthen operational, financial, and ESG performance
• Improve traceability, transparency, and market access

This integrated approach ensures that investments translate into measurable outcomes for farmers, businesses, and the environment—delivering lasting, systemic change.

Transform

Together, we are building a future where agriculture regenerates ecosystems, empowers farmers, and sustains communities for generations to come.

International trade has long been a powerful engine for economic growth—driving innovation, expanding opportunities, and helping lift millions out of extreme poverty. Yet, the benefits of trade are not equally shared. For many smallholder farmers, especially in developing and fragile regions, the barriers to participation remain too high.

Today, these challenges are intensifying.

At a time when global poverty is rising rather than receding, smallholders are facing increasing production and marketing costs, limited access to finance, and growing climate-related risks. In remote rural areas, weak infrastructure and uneven public services further increase the cost of doing business. With reduced access to concessional capital and limited safety nets, many farmers are pushed into short-term decisions—such as selling to intermediaries at lower prices—undermining long-term resilience and growth.

During economic downturns, smallholders are often the most vulnerable. With more than 40% of the world’s extreme poor living in fragile and conflict-affected areas, the ability to benefit from global trade becomes even more constrained.

For over three decades, the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) has worked to address this challenge by strengthening the link between smallholder farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This connection is critical: while smallholders produce much of the world’s agricultural commodities, SMEs enable access to markets, finance, and value addition.

The Agricultural Commodities Transformation (ACT) Fund builds on this experience.

ACT was created to unlock the potential of agri-SMEs as catalysts for change—driving income generation, strengthening climate resilience, and preserving natural capital. By investing in businesses that work directly with smallholder farmers, ACT enables more inclusive and sustainable participation in global agricultural markets.

At its core, ACT is about making trade work for those who need it most—empowering smallholders, strengthening rural economies, and building resilient agricultural systems for the future.