Agriculture is central to The Wood Foundation Africa’s portfolio. Our investment across tea, vanilla and sugar focuses on building more sustainable industries that work better for farmers and improve livelihoods over time.
For many communities, agriculture is more than a source of income. It is a route to enterprise, employment, resilience and long-term opportunity.
The Wood Foundation Africa works with crops and supply chains that have the potential to create lasting social and economic value. Our role is to support the systems around farmers as well as the enterprises themselves - from training, agronomy and production support to factories, markets, partnerships and investment.
Across our agriculture portfolio, the aim is to help industries become stronger, more sustainable and better able to create value for the people closest to them.
Tea is the largest and most established part of The Wood Foundation Africa’s agriculture portfolio. Across Rwanda and Tanzania, our work supports smallholder farmers, factories and partners through greenfield development, brownfield investment, farmer services and industry-level change.
Vanilla expands our agriculture portfolio into Uganda, supporting a high-value crop with strong potential for smallholder farmers and growing communities. Through our investment in Enimiro Products Uganda Limited, we support sustainable, transparent and traceable vanilla production.
Sugar forms part of our agriculture portfolio through previous work in Kenya, focused on smallholder farmer training, productivity and sector learning. Through our partnership with Transmara Sugar Company, we applied smallholder expertise to support better outcomes across the sugarcane industry.
“Agriculture has the power to change livelihoods when the right support is built around farmers. Our role is to invest in the enterprises, partnerships and systems that help that value grow - not just for one season, but for the long term.”
David Knopp
Chief Executive Officer, The Wood Foundation Africa
See how The Wood Foundation Africa’s agriculture work sits alongside our wider conservation and impact work.