- Loan Successfully Funded On 16 Dec 2024 ​
Cricket processing facility to expand export markets for Cambodian farmers
Agri House Co., LTD.
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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- 113,000 AUD
Loan successfully funded
Agri House is seeking its third round of funding (its second via LendForGood) following their successful repayment of two previous impact loans. The funding will support the construction and certification of a new facility that will expand their processing capacity and enable export capabilities. Agri House’s market expansion empowers Cambodian farmers to generate alternative livelihoods through cricket raising to prevent poaching and deforestation.
- 18 Lenders
Committed
- 24 months
Loan Period
- 10%
Interest Rate
- BACKGROUND
Loan summary
Agri House is a Khmer, women owned and led business which has used cricket farming to create climate-resilient solutions for marginalized communities that promote inclusion, alternative livelihoods and good nutrition for youth. They now have an opportunity to expand their operation due to recently winning a Darwin Initiative grant, awarded in partnership with conservation social enterprise Rising Phoenix. This partnership provides the necessary volume of biodynamic crickets for Agri House to process and access the growing global alternative protein market, whilst contributing to sustainable local development in Cambodia. As part of the expansion a new processing facility is needed which will unlock new export markets. The loan is required to fund both the build of the new facility and the HACCP certification needed to be able to export.
Borrower's mission
Since 2021, Agri House has been innovating to modernise traditional cricket raising into a sustainable income source for marginalised communities, ranging from urban poor in Phnom Penh to indigenous farmers in Central Cambodia. They have developed relationships with development partners and Cambodian farmers, creating cricket farming kits for them to develop alternative livelihoods to poaching and deforestation.
Their approach includes digital and financial literacy training, enabling new cricket raising families to access local and regional domestic markets. They have also developed markets for the cricket product in pet food and human nutrition, and have a strong social procurement focus for the development of their speciliased feedstock required for them to access international markets.
The activities funded by this loan are helping to achieve the above Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the UN.
Intermediary's experience with impact enterprises
For more than 8 years, Red Hat Impact has helped impact enterprises by raising capital and providing other kinds of business and strategy support. We have raised more than $3M from our network of impact investors, and loaned this capital to support 30 enterprises. We use a crowd-lending model to raise loan capital. As of May 2024, we maintain a 98% success rate on loan repayment. We establish close working relationships with all of the impact enterprises we raise debt capital for, and co-manage risks with them during the loan term.
- IMPACT
Impacts and how they are measured
Cricket farming in rural communities offers a powerful solution to combat poaching and deforestation by providing sustainable alternative livelihoods. Through conservation agreements, farmers commit to protecting local forests and wildlife while receiving training and support to establish cricket farms, with the fresh crickets sold to Agri House with a 30% premium above local prices if raised under the conservation based approach. This initiative drives economic improvement through a high-value, low-impact protein source that requires minimal space and resources. The program integrates digital and financial literacy training for 100 marginalized farmers, enabling them to manage modern farming operations and access markets. By replacing traditional meat proteins with cricket protein, the project reduces greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring food security and forest protection. Agri House are able to measure this through training records, yield and purchase records and measuring the amount of cricket protein sales against traditional meat based proteins.
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