How we measure success
How we measure success

Insights and data library

By transparently sharing our data, insights, successes, and failures, we aim to provide a comprehensive portrayal of our overall impact.  We think of impact as our "North Star", and rigorous measurement is the only way to know if we are heading in the right direction.

Publications

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110 results
Farm finance

Scaling up Agricultural Credit in Africa

This report highlights the gaps between the demand for agriculture financing and the supply provided by public banks, microfinance institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and other financial institutions.

Agricultural innovation

Poultry - Kenya (2015)

One Acre Fund consulted a range of experts to identify the most impactful interventions when considering the productivity of backyard poultry. These included the University of Queensland (Australia) and the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). 

Agricultural innovation

Soybean and Rhizobium

This report shares the results of soybean and rhizobium trial which was run with 82 farmers in 7 different cells to test the adoption rate and the ability to scale.

Impact study

Kenya income and expenditure study

We tracked 400 farmers for a full calendar year, exhaustively surveying them about their spending and income.

Agriculture policy

Subcommittee Hearing: Food Security and Nutrition Programs in Africa

This is the written statement of a One Acre Fund's Global Senior Policy Analyst who stood before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations at the Subcommittee Hearing for Food Security and Nutrition Programs in Africa.

Failures

Larger Group Size in Rwanda

One Acre Fund serves farmers in a group lending model. The hypothesis was that it might be easier, as well as less risky, to drive up clients per group than to form brand-new groups. This report shares why problems emerged and the lessons learned.

Failures

Rolling Distribution in Rwanda

In 2013, One Acre Fund Rwanda decided to trial the drop distribution method used by our Kenya
program. In 2014, Rwanda scaled up drop distribution across the entire country operation. This report shares why rolling distribution allowed One Acre Fund to grow its program in Rwanda and was an effective distribution method for years and how it became untenable.

Agricultural innovation

Scaling Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes

This report shares the results of research conducted side-by-side (Phase 2) trials of different improved orange sweet potatoes compared with local varieties, as well as trials to compare the relative effect of variety, fertilizer use, and planting method on sweet potato yields.

Social enterprise

Smallholder farmers and business

This study looks at how pioneering companies and organizations have succeeded in enrolling smallholder
farmers in productivity-enhancing schemes, sustainably and at scale – either as buyers of produce or sellers of products, services or equipment.

Failures

Lessons from One Acre Fund’s First Uganda Pilot

In 2008, One Acre Fund conducted a pilot in eastern Uganda, which was its first pilot program outside of Kenya. This report details the lessons learned from the lack of success in this pilot program.

Agricultural innovation

Kenya Custom Fertilizer Blends Trial

This report shares the results of custom fertilizer blend trials that were conducted on farmer fields in the long rain season of 2015 in western Kenya.

Impact study

Getting the Counterfactual Right

In this memo, we share our experience addressing selection bias through experimenting with four different approaches: propensity score matching, randomized control trials, newly enrolled farmers, and difference-in-difference.

Agriculture policy

Rock Phosphate (2014)

In Rwanda, One Acre Fund consulted a range of experts to identify commercially available, high-quality sources of rock phosphate. These organizations included the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI).

Agricultural innovation

Pigeon Pea Research White Paper (2015)

One Acre Fund consulted a range of experts to identify promising best management practices for pigeon pea in East Africa. These include the International Centre for Research in the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).

Farm finance

What to Read On Agriculture Microfinance

In this report One Acre highlights the books,  videos, and papers that assisted the team to better understand the market opportunity for farm microfinance and the next steps.