Project Snapshot: DFCD and Export Trading Group (ETG)

This disclosure notice summarises SNV's support to Export Trading Group (ETG), a global agricultural supply chain and agri-processing company that is developing an innovative agroforestry-based biomass outgrower model in Zambia. The ECOSHIFT Bioenergy Crop Pilot Programme aims to test dedicated bioenergy crops grown through regenerative agroforestry systems that improve soil health, restore degraded land, diversify farmer incomes, and provide a sustainable source of renewable biomass for industrial processing.

Operating in a context of increasing climate variability, declining soil fertility, and growing pressure to decarbonise agri-processing, the project will generate the technical, commercial, and operational evidence needed to validate the model and prepare it for scale. Through demonstration plots, farmer engagement, operational testing, and environmental, social, governance, and gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) assessments, the initiative will strengthen investment readiness while ensuring that smallholder farmers, women, and young people can participate in and benefit from the emerging biomass value chain.

The project is supported by a €300,000 grant from the DFCD Origination Facility and €581,484 in technical assistance from FMO AYA, with the potential to leverage approximately €30 million in follow-on debt financing. By demonstrating a commercially viable climate-resilient biomass model, the project aims to strengthen farmer livelihoods, reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the replacement of coal with sustainably produced biomass, and support more resilient and sustainable food systems across Southern Africa.