Zenkyoren invests USD 50 million in first nutrition bond issued by the International Fund for Agricultural Development

30 July 2024

Carolyn Felix, harvesting sweet potatoes from her home garden in south of Makurdi, Benue state, Nigeria.
Carolyn is a dedicated advocate who has become an advocate for orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) thanks to her involvement with the IFAD Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP). Learning about the multitude of health benefits offered by OFSP through this initiative was a turning point for her. It became her primary source of income, transforming her life.
VCDP not only taught Carolyn how to cultivate and process these sweet potatoes but also empowered her to create value-added products. She now sells these locally and to wholesalers, significantly improving her financial situation. Her dedication to sharing this knowledge is evident as she educates others in schools and churches, witnessing the positive impact on young people's lives.

Her entrepreneurial spirit shines through as she and her family produce various OFSP-based products, meeting the demands of a market hungry for items like sweet potato flour, snacks, drinks, and garri. Carolyn takes pride in being among the 146 farmers in her area now cultivating OFSP.

She speaks highly of VCDP, attributing the initiative to a pivotal change in their lives: "VCDP has really changed our lives. It has motivated us, increased our knowledge, and put food on our tables.”

The Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), initiated in 2014, concentrates on enhancing the cassava and rice value chains among smallholder farmers. Its primary goal is to implement projects that lessen poverty, improve food security, and boost economic progress. Collaborating closely with local governments across nine states—Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, and Taraba—the VCDP actively tackles challenges within these value chains. Its efforts encompass advancing value addition in agro-processing and minimizing losses after harvest.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Japanese ICMIF member Zenkyoren, National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives has invested USD 50 million in the first nutrition bond to be issued by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), under its Sustainable Development Finance Framework.

The bond will support IFAD’s investments in rural development programmes, and ensure better food security and nutrition for millions of rural people in developing countries. It will contribute to global efforts to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The funds will support efforts to fully integrate nutrition in IFAD- financed programmes and contribute to nutrition commitments for the 2025-2027 programme of work whereby at least 60% of IFAD-financed projects address the underlying causes of malnutrition related to household food insecurity, inadequate care for mother and child feeding practices and an unhealthy environment.

IFAD works to implement nutrition-sensitive agricultural practices and improve food security and achieving optimal nutrition for all is at the heart of IFAD’s work. Nutrition is one of IFAD’s four cross-cutting thematic commitments, as a “nutrition lens” is applied to the design and implementation of investments in agriculture, supporting rural people to improve their diets by growing and consuming diverse, nutritious, safe and affordable foods.

Zenkyoren says it has made one of the missions of its JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) Mutual Insurance Programme to “contribute to the creation of a prosperous and secure community through dynamic business activities.” It believes that proactively implementing initiatives based on this mission is the first step to reach the SDGs. Zenkyoren has signed the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), which is supported by the United Nations (UN). Zenkyoren says it is working to continue ESG investments that contribute to the SDGs, both in Japan and overseas, based on securing stable investment returns for the funds the precious money entrusted to the cooperative by its members.

Zenkyoren will support the programmes to tackle malnutrition in small-scale rural areas, especially developing countries. It believes this investment will make positive impacts in order to solve malnutrition related to household food insecurity and the lack of regular nutritional intake among women and children in rural areas. It expects such action to contribute to global efforts to reach the common goals toward 2030, one by one. Zenkyoren says it will continue to contribute to the realisation of a society in which the SDGs are achieved thanks to its business activities as a member of both the local and global community.

“We are extremely excited to partner with Zenkyoren to implement solutions to tackle malnutrition. Solutions that have a long-lasting impact on the well-being, health, learning and productive capacity of a large number of children, women and men. Together we can make a difference for millions,” said Natalia Toschi, Head of Funding, IFAD. “We are also very happy to partner with a like-minded institution which has farming communities at the heart of its work.”

IFAD and Zenkyoren have a common goal of supporting local and small farmers and helping them to improve their living conditions and achieve more prosperity and food and nutrition security.

Zenkyoren was founded in 1951 as a cooperative insurance organisation to insure members of the farming community under the motto “One for all, all for one.” The 10 million member strong JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) Group, to which Zenkyoren belongs, comprises agricultural cooperatives (known as JAs) at the local level and organisations at the prefectural and national levels. Zenkyoren ensures the sustainability of agriculture and local communities by providing insurance and services and engaging in activities with positive impact on communities. It also believes that each of these activities contributes to the achievement of the SDGs.

IFAD invests in rural communities and small-scale farmers to enable them to improve food security and nutrition, reduce poverty and build resilience to climatic or economic shocks. IFAD aims to reach an investment programme of USD 3.4 billion for rural areas in more than 90 countries for the 2022-2024 period. IFAD supported programmes work extensively with local farmers organizations and cooperatives.

According to the latest State of Food Security, the number of people suffering from hunger has been growing in recent years and reached up to 780 million people in 2022. According to UN statistics, also in 2022, 148 million children were stunted or too short for their age, and 45 million were wasted or too thin for their height, while 37 million were overweight or living with obesity.
Small-scale farmers produce one third of the world’s food. While being essential for global and local food security, they often live in poverty and hunger. About 80% of the world’s extremely poor people reside in rural areas.