The PCP Yield Uganda Fund, a €20 million agribusiness impact fund, is a partnership between public and private investors established in 2017. It invests equity, quasi-equity, and debt into small and medium-sized enterprises. The PCP Yield Uganda Fund invests €250,000 to €2 million per investment and supports investees with business processes and management capacity.

Over the past two decades, Uganda has experienced high economic growth and a significant decline in poverty. By 2011, Uganda had already achieved the 2015 Millennium Development Goal of halving the share of the population living on less than one dollar per day. However, in recent years the pace of poverty reduction decelerated, as most households rely heavily on agriculture and are vulnerable to climate change and weather shocks.

Growth in the agricultural sector is fundamental in the fight against poverty. It is estimated that a 1 percent increase in agricultural yields reduces the percentage of people living on less than one dollar per day by between 0.6 and 1.2 percent.

By 2023 we expect the PCP Yield Uganda Fund will be invested in 15 high-impact agribusinesses that provide quality inputs and service to smallholders, increasing yields and the quality of produce, helping to demonstrate the viability of investing in smallholder-focused projects.

• Positively impact 26,000 smallholder farmers by increasing access to quality inputs and markets
• Create direct employment for 3,000 new workers per year 
• Catalyze additional financing worth $9 million

SEDF’s investment brought the PCP Yield Uganda Fund to a sustainable fund size and matched co-investor Finn Church Aid’s interest. The investment aligned with past work on smallholder farmers and Open Society–Africa’s current work on building sustainable economies that can respond to the impact of climate change.