Economic background
Seven out of ten Africans depend on agriculture for their livelihoods,
including several million people who rely at least partly on sales of fruit,
vegetables, cocoa, coffee, tea and other agricultural commodities to the UK.
Supplying these foods has enabled many to escape poverty. UK shoppers spend
about £1 million every day on food products from Africa. Some are Fairtrade
items. Others include foods that shoppers may be unaware are from Africa or
made from African produce.
While nearly three quarters of UK consumers say they want to reduce poverty
through their shopping choices, they are also concerned about other issues
such as price, food safety, the environment and animal welfare. The focus on
food miles has created some misconceptions about the sustainability of food
from Africa and has highlighted the lack of information about its impact on
developing countries.
How can FRICH help?
Rising interest about where food comes from is a chance to remind shoppers
that the livelihoods of a huge number of African farmers depend on growing
food for the UK market and this trade supports development.
FRICH will award grants to supermarkets and their suppliers, as well as to
others in the food retail industry, to encourage investments at different
points along their African supply chains, from the production stage through
to in-store promotions in the supermarket.
These projects will test new supply chain systems and initiatives that
deliver development benefits to farmers and farm workers and bring more
information about those farmers to their customers. Successful projects
could provide business models that have a much wider applicability across
Africa.
FRICH will address three main issues:
-
How to enhance productivity and add value to the supply chain, whether in production, processing, storage, transport, packaging, compliance, market intelligence, financing or procurement
-
How to extend the benefits of export supply chains to producers that are currently unable to meet market requirements and are insufficiently established as export growers to justify commercial investment in their operations.
-
How to expand UK consumer demand for African produce in the face of concerns about food miles, environmental conservation, labour standards and food safety.
Application and procedures
Grantees will be expected to match or exceed the value of FRICH grants with
the investment of their own resources. The maximum grant available under the
fund is £250k.
All projects that are approved as part of Round Two should have a maximum
duration of two years for FRICH funded inputs. Payments will be made upon
reaching agreed milestones.
Payments will be reimbursements of funds spent by the project partners
FRICH is a competitive fund with an independent Advisory Committee
responsible for funding decisions. The committee consists of experts in UK
retailing and in African agriculture and African business.
The Advisory Committee’s decision is final.
There is no right of appeal. However, organisations may put forward
more than one concept note. If
the project does not reach proposal stage, the company may submit a concept
note for another project in the next round.
Governance
FRICH is being financed by the UK Government’s Department for International
Development (DFID) and managed by a consortium of companies headed by Nathan
EME.
Because the management team is not involved in the decision making process,
members of the team are available to provide guidance in preparation of
concept notes.
Contact:
Mark Thomas, FRICH Project Director
Kerry Hamilton, FRICH Project Manager
Tel: +44 20 7538 3111