As governments and development organizations increasingly step in to help identify and support sustainable, market-based solutions that bring agricultural innovations and services to smallholder farmers, more evidence is needed on the types of approaches that are most effective. Smallholder farmers are critical to global food security and economic growth; however, they have largely been overlooked by the private sector, constraining their productivity and income potential. To successfully engage the private sector and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, it is critical to gain a refined understanding of which solutions work — and which do not. There is a need to understand the extent to which donor support to private companies can catalyze entry, expansion and commercial sustainability within the smallholder market segment. It is also important to examine how the design and implementation of these programs can promote (or inhibit) their impact on partner companies and smallholder farmers.

Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation, a USAID-supported program, provides a rare opportunity to delve deeper into these questions. The program provides companies with investments tied to milestone-based outcomes, and tailored support services designed to build managerial and operational capacity. The ultimate goal is to sustainably improve smallholder farmers’ income and food production. Based on data and insights from the program, this report serves as a learning document to expand the evidence base around engaging the private sector to achieve development outcomes.

The overall findings of this report indicate that the partnership approach USAID employed through Partnering for Innovation is a promising way to catalyze private sector involvement in the smallholder farmer market segment. It holds many lessons for USAID and other donors seeking to engage the private sector to achieve sustainable development outcomes.

This report should be of interest to anyone who seeks to better understand the extent to which private sector partnerships can create sustainable development impact. In particular, we seek to understand how donors can effectively engage the private sector to bring agricultural innovations and services to smallholder farmers.