One Acre Fund
A farmer-first bundle of inputs, credit, training, and market support that helps smallholders raise yields and incomes at scale.
In much of rural Africa, farming is a lifeline—but also a gamble. A typical smallholder knows how to farm, but faces a stack of constraints: cash arrives only after harvest, quality inputs are expensive or unreliable, extension services are thin, and market prices drop right when everyone sells.
One Acre Fund (OAF) was built to redesign that system around the farmer’s reality. Instead of a single input or training session, OAF delivers a full “farm-as-a-business” bundle: seed and fertilizer on credit, last-mile delivery, practical field coaching, and help selling surplus.
Farmers repay gradually across the season, so investment is possible even with low savings. Training is delivered through local field officers and demo plots, turning modern agronomy into habits. The result is a more predictable harvest, higher income, and resilience against climate shocks.
OAF’s simple thesis: smallholders thrive when finance, inputs, knowledge, and markets are solved together.
Key Numbers (2024 results)
Metrics reflect calendar-year 2024 performance, as reported in OAF’s most recent Annual Report (published May 2025).
Company Information
One Acre Fund is a nonprofit social enterprise serving smallholder farmers as paying clients. The organization designs services around real rural constraints: low liquidity, high input risk, weak extension, and volatile markets. OAF combines scale economics with local delivery via field teams and rural storefronts.
Leadership & Team
| Role | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| President & Co-Founder | Andrew Youn | Founded OAF in 2006; focuses on strategic partnerships and fundraising |
| CEO & Co-Founder | Eric Pohlman | CEO since March 2024; previously led Rwanda program from pilot to national scale |
| Frontline staff | 9,487 full-time employees (2024) | Over 99% based in countries of operation; majority rural-based |
How the Model Works
OAF delivers a bundled service designed to make improved farming affordable and practical. Farmers enroll voluntarily, pick a package size, receive inputs on credit, and get season-long coaching.
What Farmers Receive
Growth and Results
OAF scaled to 5.5M farmers in 2024—15% growth from 2023—placing the organization halfway to its 2030 goal of 10M farmers. Growth is driven by a mix of direct full-service delivery and lower-touch partnerships.
2024 Impact Highlights
- Total impact value: $433.9M in new farmer profits and assets.
- Food security: Veteran OAF families were 20% more likely to have maize left during the hunger season.
- Nutrition: Children under five were 12% more likely to meet minimum dietary diversity.
- Soil health: Veteran clients used 31% more organic inputs (compost/manure/residues).
- Climate scale: 90M trees planted in 2024; 250M since 2019 toward a 1B-tree 2030 target.
Where They Work (2024 scale)
One Acre Fund operates in nine countries, with reach split between full-service programs and partnerships.
| Country | Farmers Impacted | Breakdown / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rwanda | 2,886,000 | 1,272,000 full-service + partnership reach; serves over 1M farmers directly |
| Kenya | 1,614,000 | Primarily partnerships and OAF-owned rural shops |
| Uganda | 1,030,000 | 262,000 full-service + 768,000 partnerships |
| Malawi | 671,000 | 142,000 full-service + 529,000 partnerships |
| Burundi | 383,000 | 351,000 full-service + 32,000 partnerships |
| Nigeria | 304,000 | 60,000 full-service + 244,000 partnerships; fastest-growing new market |
| Tanzania | 100,000 | Program restructured around shops + agroforestry; counted under partnerships |
| Ethiopia | 81,000 | Scale reduced due to conflict constraints |
| Zambia | 12,000 | Agroforestry carbon-credit trial is the core program |
Financing and Sustainability
OAF blends farmer repayments with donor/philanthropic capital. Farmers repay most input costs through seasonal credit. Grants fund R&D, climate tools, expansion, and partnership programs where per-farmer costs are lower.
Peers and Alternative Models
OAF sits between pure NGO extension and fully commercial input/aggregator models. Its edge is bundling + seasonal repayment + consistent measurement.
| Organization Type | Typical Model | Strength | How OAF Differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| One Acre Fund | Bundle + in-season credit | High adoption + validated yield gains | Solves multiple constraints together with harvest-based evaluation |
| Public extension | Training only | Wide theoretical reach | OAF links advice to real inputs and finance |
| Input dealers | Cash sales | Market efficiency | OAF removes upfront cash barrier via credit |
| Single-product NGOs | Seeds/trees only | Deep specialist focus | OAF integrates products into a profit system farmers repay |
Key Lessons for African Founders and Ecosystem Builders
What can you learn from One Acre Fund’s playbook?
- Bundle constraints. Adoption sticks when finance, product, training, and markets move together.
- Design for cash flow. In-season repayment unlocks scale more than one-off subsidies.
- Make trust operational. Local field presence + predictable delivery drive renewals.
- Measure impact like a KPI. Harvest-based evidence keeps scaling honest.
- Partnerships scale faster. Low-touch channels reach millions when quality systems are shared.
- Climate tools must pay farmers. Trees and soil health scale when they add household value.
Latest metrics come from One Acre Fund’s 2024 Annual Report and “Our Impact” pages (published May 2025).
Verified November 24, 2025.
oneacrefund.org/our-impact