Responsible Agriculture and Food Sector
A project to equip sector stakeholders with management tools that integrate responsible business conduct and client protection standards for agribusinesses.
Webinar on February 24th, 2026!
In partnership with the Council of Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF), Cerise+SPTF will host a webinar to inform its partners and anyone interested in the progress of the RAF Project.
On the agenda:
- Show the progress over the last two years, including the mapping of the tools in the agriculture and food sector, which highlights the added value of the RAF Project’s approaches.
- The updated tools and field-tested materials co-created by the RAF Project.
- The experiences of partners on using the tools (speakers below).
- Our objectives for the future: we rely on this Agriculture Working Group to define priorities and the path towards an integrated assessment tool.
Speakers:
- Ben Wallingford – Risk, ESG and Impact Officer at Incofin Investment Management
- Mor Fall – Specialist in financing value chains and agricultural cooperatives, in partnership with ADA
- Thomas Kockmeyer – Impact Investing for Smallholder Farming, Agriculture & Microfinance, for IDH Farmfit Fund
- Global Partnerships (to be confirmed)
The webinar is open to everyone!
- Date: February 24th, 2026.
- Hour: from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm CET (Paris time).
- Language: English
Project Presentation in English
Why promote a responsible agriculture and food sector?
Many factors make it necessary to work towards implementing more responsible practices in agriculture and food sector. Among others, we notice that climate change is making agriculture an extremely risky, potentially dangerous and loss-making endeavour for farmers. Existing bad practices create risks for smallholder farmers and their communities, and current international standards are not adapted. Traditional approaches of E&S risk management do not offer the level of specificity and depth that is required to assess client protection risks in service delivery.
Our existing initiatives
Since 2022, Cerise+SPTF has been collaborating with partners to develop two management tools for agribusinesses:
- the RAI Tool for "Responsible Agricultural Investment" developed with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) - Learn more
- the Agri CP Tool, a specific client protection assessment tool for the agricultural sector developed with the IDH Farmfit Fund - Learn more
Our perspectives
Stakeholders have shown a clear interest on the existing tools. Cerise+SPTF and its partners now need to fine-tune the added-value and positioning of these tools, confront them with real-life situations, adjust them based on the sector needs, and create a supportive environment to promote their use and support improvement of practices.
Through our RAF project, we aim to:
- Build a RAF Working Group to facilitate exchanges between practitioners sensitive to these issues | Q1 & Q2 2025
- Develop a suite of practical tools that translate international standards into management practices | Q3 2025 – Q3 2026
- Build local capacities to assist agribusinesses in assessing their performance and improving their practices | Q3 2025 – Q3 2026
- Support access to practical resources to support agriculture and food sector stakeholders in applying the tools and improving practices | Q3 2026 – Q1 2027
Interested in supporting or joining this initiative?
As agriculture and/or food sector stakeholder, you can contribute to this RAF Project:
- Join the RAF Working Group to come
- Test the tools in the field with your agribusiness partners
- Support the project (grant, sponsorship) to make this initiative sustainable and relevant to the sector
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