Social Investment Innovations for Smallholder Farmers and Rural Cooperatives in the Global South

Authors: Emmanuel Gagnerot & Adèle Voyeux, SIDI.

In the eighth in our blog series to celebrate the International Year of Cooperatives, Emmanuel Gagnerot & Adèle Voyeux from International Solidarity for Development and Investment (SIDI) discuss the alliance between SIDI and Ethiquable, which promotes sustainable agriculture, agroecology, and the empowerment of local communities in various countries with low human development indices (HDI), as illustrated by the partnership with Apodip cooperative.  

Since 1983, SIDI (International Solidarity for Development and Investment) has been committed to building a fairer world by financing agricultural organisations in the most disadvantaged countries, thanks to its 2000 individual shareholders. In addition to commercial financing ranging from €200,000 to €2 million and via various instruments (debt issuance, equity participation, or guarantees), SIDI also provides technical assistance to rural organizations through grants or personalized coaching.

With over 30 agricultural partner organisations, three-quarter of which are certified organic and/or fair trade, SIDI helps to transform the lives of thousands of smallholder family farmers across 17 countries in the Global South.

SIDI supports organic and/or fair-trade cooperatives, primarily in the export sectors (e.g. cocoa, cashew, coffee, etc.), by providing one-year working capital loans (aligned with the agricultural season) and investment financing. This financial and technical support helps cooperatives improve their professional development and enhance the services they offer to their members, especially when adopting agroecological and agroforestry practices.

As an example of this, SIDI works with Ethiquable (and Ethiquable’s partner cooperative APODIP) to providing financing and TA support:

SIDI has established a strategic partnership with the cooperative Ethiquable which works with over 105 organic producer cooperatives around the world and distributes its products in more than 60 supermarkets across France. This collaboration began over 10 years ago, when SIDI was providing pre-financing services to small scale producer cooperatives partnered with ETHIQUABLE for their harvest campaign, in low-HDI countries such as Haiti, Madagascar, Ecuador and Peru.

The innovative financial and solidarity-based partnership between Ethiquable and SIDI illustrates the ongoing commitment of both parties to sustainable agriculture, agroecology, and the empowerment of local communities. The purpose is to build autonomous smallholder supply chains and strengthen the capacities of farmer organisations.

The aim of this partnership is to enhance the financial and technical assistance support provided by SIDI to a larger number of local organic and fair-trade cooperatives, that produce cashew, cacao or coffee, while at the same time equally sharing the risk (50/50). As a result, SIDI offers cooperatives partnered with ETHIQUABLE a dedicated financing package (€1.2M in 2024 and €1.7M for 2025), along with streamlined evaluation processes, a dedicated investment committee as well as favourable loan conditions.

Moreover, these small local producer organisations often need to strengthen their internal capacities, particularly in governance, financial management as well as their capacity to innovate in areas such as agroecology, climate resilience and traceability. Beyond technical and managerial skills, this partnership support also seeks to enhance the organisations’ negotiating power within the value chain and with local partners. Thus and in addition to financing, the partnership includes a Technical Assistance (TA) program led by SIDI, focused on strengthening the economic viability of producer organisations, a recurring challenge in the agricultural sector.

This partnership is mutually beneficial: all three parties gain from it by sharing the risk. This collaboration secures the supply chain for Ethiquable and its partner cooperatives, ensures that cooperatives in remote or low-HDI countries receive financing and technical assistance on favorable terms, and, finally, enables SIDI to increase its support to local cooperatives (currently representing 28% of the portfolio).  

APODIP is a great example of an Ethiquable partner cooperative that receives support by SIDI.

Created in 2003 by 48 coffee producers from the Paraiso community in northern Guatemala, the APODIP association now brings together 1,218 small producers committed to responsible production and marketing of organic, high-quality cocoa, coffee, cardamom, and peanuts. In line with the fair-trade movement, the association has grown significantly in recent years, thanks to the partnership it established with Ethiquable in 2018. APODIP is a highly dynamic organisation that has set up a company to handle commercial activities, designed specific brands for each product, and opened a retail store. APODIP has built the country’s first cocoa paste manufacturing plant, which will supply Ethiquable’s organic chocolate factory in the Gers region of France. The export of a partially processed product – cocoa paste rather than just cocoa beans – enables producers to significantly increase their incomes. While APODIP’s growth momentum remains fragile due to insufficient working capital, its development potential is very high, particularly thanks to its cocoa factory. The $250,000 loan granted by SIDI in 2024 enabled APODIP to purchase cocoa from its members, as well as organic cocoa from Ethiquable partner cooperatives in Nicaragua, making the factory profitable. APODIP has also asked SIDI for help in strengthening its administrative and financial capacities and completing the process of creating local added value.

This new partnership with APODIP is one of the concrete results of the strategic alliance between SIDI and Ethiquable – and we look forward to developing many more such partnerships to strengthen cooperatives in the years to come.

Emmanuel Gagnerot is Director of Operations and Partnerships at SIDI. With a background in the Social and Solidarity Economy, he began his career at France Active and later headed the SSE department at Crédit Coopératif. His vision combines concrete action, technical expertise, and ethical commitment, values he shares with SIDI’s team and volunteers. At SIDI, he is responsible for strengthening the organization’s impact across its 127 partners in 33 countries, managing a portfolio of €56 million. In addition, Emmanuel leads the implementation of SIDI’s agricultural strategy and works to reinforce support for local cooperatives in the Global South.

Adèle Voyeux brings over 10 years of experience in the microfinance sector. Her career has been deeply rooted in fieldwork, where for many years she performed onsite assignments working directly with small entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers, gaining firsthand insight into their challenges and opportunities. Since joining SIDI in 2024, Adele has expanded her expertise to include cooperatives and sustainable agriculture, further enriching her understanding of grassroots development. At SIDI, she leads fundraising and external relations, leveraging her experience to build strong partnerships and mobilize resources in support of local MFIs and AgriSMEs.