From Integration to Prosperity: How Social Capital Transforms Agricultural Social Enterprises

Social enterprises, through their combination of social mission and business approach, offer a unique point of entry into tackling scaling challenges in agriculture, particularly for groups such as smallholder farmers, youth, and women. Through innovative models, social enterprises can drive adoption in rural communities through financing and logistical networks, building more resilient, prosperous communities.

Evidence shows that social enterprise can advance scale in agriculture. However, the effectiveness of these enterprises largely depends on the institutional ecosystem in which they operate. Studies of farmers’ producer organizations and cooperatives across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa show that while farmers’ producer organizations and cooperatives play a crucial role in organizing smallholder farmers for scale and fairer market, public partnerships widen access to extension, credit, and infrastructure. In practice, these collaborations and convergence build social capital in agricultural enterprises and foster inclusive governance, shared decision making, and fairer distribution of gains. A growing body of literature also highlights how digital platforms and climate smart technologies reduce information gaps, improve risk management through instruments such as weather indexed insurance, and expand the reach and effectiveness of social enterprises in agriculture.

To interrogate these varied and nuanced dynamics of social enterprises in the agriculture sector, the Scaling Community of Practices is hosting a webinar on Social Enterprise in Agriculture. The webinar intends to bring researchers and practitioners together to test assumptions, discuss lessons learnt, and identify practical pathways to scale. Building on comparative evidence and lived experience, the webinar will examine the enablers and constraints that condition impact across settings.

In this webinar, we will:
review some social enterprise models in the agricultural sector,
take stock of the challenges and opportunities social enterprises face in this space,
situate the discussion on social enterprise in agriculture in relevant scholarship on institutional arrangements, social capital and inclusive business in agrarian sector,
reflect on measurement approaches, including outcomes, process indicators, and external validity across contexts, and
discuss lessons learned, focusing on opportunities for using social enterprises to reach and sustain outcomes at significant scale.