Financial Instruments and Financing for Sustainable Agrifood Systems

Techno-Economic Analysis in the Agricultural Value Chain

Before making any investment in renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency along agricultural value chains, the feasibility and the financial and economic cost-benefits need to be analysed.

The first step before investing too much time and money is an Investment Planning on Micro-Level, where a feasibility analysis takes into account the legal, economic, technological, and scheduling factors, investigating the possible negative and positive outcomes. A clear identification of financial, economic, institutional, social and technical opportunities and risks is required as a first screening, where the energy source currently used is compared to the renewable energy technology to invest in, which can strongly vary from site to site.

In order to assess quantitatively the attractiveness of the investment options a Financial and Economic Analysis (FEA) needs to be performed, which consists of two main steps.

Firstly, a Financial Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), which monetizes all major benefits and costs generated by the investment is compiled. It provides four main indicators which allow assessing the attractiveness of the investment: The Net Present Value (NPV), the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), the benefit/cost (B/C) ratio and the payback time.

As a second step, the Economic Cost-Benefit Analysis deals with the costs and benefits to society, such as social and environmental issues, and net benefits to society as a whole. It takes externalities and co-benefits into account that are context specific and can modify the structure of economic costs and benefits of the project through economic incentives to renewables or fossil fuels, or costs to mitigating climate change. Read more ...

Case Studies

Comparative Financial Analysis of Irrigation Solutions

In order to compare different irrigation solutions from a financial analysis perspective, the main costs of all components and factors need to be determined, including the grading earthworks needed, the costs of headworks, of purchasing the pumping system, the water conveyance system, of irrigation management, and labour costs. The Toolbox on Solar Powered Irrigation Systems provides practitioners with the excel-based PAYBACK tool which allows a comparative assessment between income and three different irrigation pumping options. For a thorough comparison also operational costs need to be set against each other among the different irrigation types. This relationship strongly varies depending on the component that is being analysed. For example, surface irrigation approaches require a high degree of land development, but usually work with simple water abstraction installations. In turn, pressurized systems require a bore well, implying higher initial investment costs, but do not require sophisticated land development. Irrigation water is an important production factor in agriculture, and the extent to which farm households depend on irrigation for their production depends on the geographical location, the local hydrological and soil conditions and on the actual crop water requirements. Depending on the irrigation method applied, capital and operational costs may vary and thereby impact farm budgets in different ways. Read more…

Costs and Benefits of Clean-Energy-Technologies in the Milk Value Chain

Despite the importance of the milk sector for income generation among small-scale farmers in Tanzania, Kenya, and Tunisia, only a reduced amount has access to extension services, which could improve their productivity. Raw milk is usually transported to milk collection facilities, where it is often rejected due to low quality, as it is not cooled during transportation. The lack of a reliable electricity grid hinders most rural households from using adequate refrigeration systems. Cooling technologies can significantly improve milk quality and add value along the milk value chain. Since grid electricity does not reach many rural areas, off-grid renewable energy (RE) solutions to cool milk can be a viable option. Biogas domestic milk chillers and solar milk coolers are attractive from a financial point of view and have socio-economic and environmental net co-benefits. Policies, financing mechanisms and capacity building activities to facilitate the adoption of renewable energy cooling solutions for milk include: the development of a clear national strategy for the milk sector, strict milk quality standards and a price premium for quality refrigerated milk, the establishment of controls and fines against illegal milk commercialization, eradication of counterfeit RE products, financial incentives, extension services, technical assistance, information programmes and training. Costs and Benefits of Clean-Energy-Technologies in Kenya’s Vegetable Value Chain Horticulture is the third leading agricultural subsector in Kenya (after dairy and tea), and it is a growing market. However, small-scale producers in the vegetable sector face many challenges such as erratic rainfall, high and volatile energy prices, low crop yields, post-harvest losses of perishable crops, seasonal variations in product prices, poor access to market information, weak transportation infrastructure, and lack of access to modern energy for productive uses. Overcoming them could help achieve a more constant level of production and income. Both solar cold storage and small solar-powered water pumping technologies, assessed here as case studies, showed positive financial and economic returns. Adoption of such clean energy technologies in the vegetable value chain can be facilitated by establishing guarantee schemes as well as specific micro-credit lines and support services for farmers and cooperatives; setting minimum performance standards for renewable energy (RE) equipment; educating and training practitioners on the benefits and effective use of solar technologies and raising awareness of technological and financing opportunities. Read more…

Costs and Benefits of Clean Energy Technologies in the Philippines’ Rice Value Chain

Small-scale rice farmers from the Global South often face difficulties in reaching milling services and usually do not have access to grid electricity. Local renewable energy systems can provide electricity and heat for productive activities, hence improving production and reducing food losses in remote rural areas. In off-grid areas the gasification of rice husks and solar-powered domestic rice milling interventions, assessed here as case studies, can be financially viable as well as provide social and environmental co-benefits. Adoption of clean energy technologies in the rice value chain can be facilitated through targets and strategies for rural electrification, the introduction of financing and insurance products, technical assistance to manufacturers and consumers, capacity building and improving energy literacy. Read more…

Publications & Tools

Excel-based or online available tools allow assessing the viability and the environmental impact of such interventions. However, as these can be unfriendly to a non-professional audience, several online tools are available to support small and medium businesses in performing a cost-benefit evaluation of their investment in an energy-food context. Read more…

WinDASI: A Software for Cost Benefit Analysis of Investment Projects

Developed for current or future practitioners in Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of investment projects, working in public administrations, in NGO’s, professional organizations or consulting firms, WinDASI allows calculating a) flows of physical quantities of outputs, inputs and investment items; b) flows of current, discounted and cumulative costs, benefits and net benefits; c) flows of incremental (With-Without project) current, discounted and cumulative net benefits; and d) project indicators such as the Net Present Value (NPV), the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), the Benefit/Cost Ratio (BCR), the Switching Values (SVs) and Sensitivity Analysis. The tool addresses normal and phased mode of calculation and comparisons of different projects alternative scenarios. Read more…

FAOVCA-Tool – A Software for Value Chain Analysis

Value chains act like socio-economic links between upstream and downstream agents, connected through technical, economic, territorial, institutional and social relationships. Value chain analysis explores the structure of these links and relationships, building accounts for the different agents and analysing their revenues, costs, value added and profits. This enables a consistent accounting framework for the whole value chain and identifies bottlenecks and opportunities for value chain development. It is suitable to assess evidence-based policy options and monitoring of their impact. The FAO VCA-tool 3.1 is particularly useful to store and organize data for different agents, structure the value chain accounting framework, calibrate and compute flows, shadow prices, competitiveness and protection indicators. Further, it allows building and comparing alternative value chains scenarios for policy impact assessment and performance monitoring. Tool and manuals are freely available online on FAO’s EASYPol platform. Read more…

Toolbox on Solar Powered Irrigation Systems – Payback Tool

The SPIS Toolbox is designed to enable advisors, service providers and practitioners in the field of solar irrigation to provide broad hands-on guidance to end-users, policy makers and financiers. Risks related to system efficiency, financial viability and the unsustainable use of water resources can thus be minimized. The Payback Tool evaluates economic, environmental and social aspects of different energy sources for irrigation in order to help operators to assess the economic viability of different power supply options and water pumping technologies. The tool assesses the economics associated with different energy sources for irrigation including the cost, price, and payback time. Read more…

RuralInvest – A Participatory Approach to Identifying and Preparing Small/Medium Scale Agricultural and Rural Investments

RuralInvest, developed by the FAO Investment Centre, answers the need for support to local investment by offering a series of modules. These provide a range of materials and training courses such as technical manuals, custom developed software, user guides and instructor’s materials. The modules include guidelines to assist local technicians working with communities and other rural groups to assess their investment needs. Further, the modules provide a simplified methodology and approach to facilitate the conversion of general ideas into specific investment profiles. For large investments, a detailed project formulation and analysis including all information concerning the viability can be compiled using the software which allows calculating working capital requirements and annual cash flows, as well as Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The software can generate a variety of reports in either electronic or printed form. The complete report is typically of 15-20 pages, depending upon the complexity of the investment. The RuralInvest software is designed to be operable on the Internet but can also be installed directly on computers of field technicians. It is applicable for any agency, project, organization or private investor managing funds for small and medium scale agricultural and rural investments. Read more…