Sénégalaise des Filières Alimentaires

Responsible investment in and by agribusinesses—including crop producers, processors, and traders—can play a transformative role in driving innovation in agrifood systems, building market and supply chain linkages, and contributing to local economies and communities. These outcomes can be enhanced when agribusinesses align their policies, operations, and practices with the Committee on World Food Security’s Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI).

The agribusiness in this case study, Sénégalaise des Filières Alimentaires (SFA), is supported by an impact investor involved in the Smallholder Safety Net Up-scaling Programme (SSNUP). This program brings together investors to promote sustainable, climate-smart farming practices and improve food security and living standards in developing countries. It is part of a series aimed at analyzing how well SSNUP investees perform and comply with international standards for responsible business conduct, such as the CFS-RAI.

SFA is representative of small- and medium-sized agricultural processing enterprises in the rice industry. They face several challenges—including government price setting for paddy rice, securing sufficient volumes for financial sustainability, and establishing and maintaining trust and relationships with farmers, communities, industry enterprises, and other stakeholders.

We measured SFA's compliance with principles for responsible investment across seven key dimensions. Overall, we found them to have a moderate level of compliance. SFA has an inclusive and transparent structure, contributes significantly to the livelihoods of farmers, communities, and local businesses, and in return receives great loyalty from them.

The case study makes several recommendations for how to address areas where SFA's compliance falls short. For example, SFA could formally incorporate principles for responsible investment into its strategy, building on its current approach to sustainable business conduct; it could be stricter in enforcing health and safety procedures among staff; and, when feasible, it could increase its rice prices to be more in line with other competitors.