Investments in sustainable land use are more challenging than mainstream agricultural investments because project preparedness is usually low. Such financing schemes require concessional arrangements going far beyond the usual setups. Potential borrowers lack credit history or even access to finance. UNIQUE supported IDH and the agricultural cooperative Ecookim to develop a bankable project under the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund. The objective was to create long-term financial support for agroforestry producers. The project aimed to develop an analytical approach to measure yields, cost of production, profitability and net cash flow at the farm gate. The analysis will serve as a basis to construct a financial model that allows the LDN Fund to reach the final beneficiary and create impact on the ground.

• Financial needs assessment at farm gate
• Modelling of lending scheme through financial intermediary or the cooperative
• Evaluation of existing access to finance and smallholder lending schemes in the market
• Recommendations to LDN Fund on financial model, risk sharing options and currency risk mitigation
• Recommendations to IDH on technical assistance requirements of an agroforestry lending scheme