Better Season Project

Overview

Better Season Project expands access to productive, income-boosting tools like water tanks for smallholder farmers. We do this through asset-collateralised loans (ACLs) - loans where a farmer purchases a specific productive asset and repays it from the income that asset generates, with the asset itself serving as collateral. This lowers barriers to credit, reduces lender risk, and creates stable pathways to higher income. 

Working with Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) in Kenya, we act as a technical partner: helping design loan products, train staff, set up repayment systems, and make these loans workable for farmers by simplifying repayments, coordinating access to water tanks, and supporting farmers through onboarding and early use. Incubated in 2025 through Ambitious Impact’s Charity Entrepreneurship Program, we are building an evidence-backed, cost-effective model of smallholder finance that reduces the need for ongoing subsidy - so early philanthropy unlocks lasting income growth. 

The Problem

Half a billion smallholder farmers grow about one-third of the world’s food, yet most live in extreme poverty. Yields are low, prices fluctuate, and climate shocks cut deep into already narrow margins. Simple, proven tools like water tanks and fertiliser can lift farm incomes for years. Many farmers could afford them on credit, but lenders misjudge their risk.

This leaves a $170 billion gap in smallholder finance. Conventional loans require land titles, guarantors, or high cash deposits that most smallholders do not have. Even though SACCOs are well trusted in these communities, liquidity constraints, high transaction costs, and operational challenges have historically prevented them from financing productive assets using this loan structure. 

Evidence from Kenya suggests that well-designed ACLs lead to sustained increases in farm income and can be financially viable for local lenders, yet they remain largely absent from the market. This is a credit market failure: farmers who could reliably repay cannot access credit, while lenders who could serve them lack the systems and information to do so. 

The Solution

Better Season Project enables SACCOs to offer asset-collateralised loans (ACLs) sustainably by addressing the operational, informational, and liquidity barriers that keep them from doing so today.

We partner with SACCOs to:

• Design and pilot ACL products
• Simplify operations and risk assessment
• Support farmers during the onboarding and repayment process. 

Our role is not to become a lender, but to reduce the market failures that prevent SACCOs and farmers from transacting. The goal is a model that SACCOs can continue offering independently over time. 

Current Activities 

We are currently focussed on expanding access to 5,000L rainwater tanks for smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya - a durable, climate-resilient asset that directly boosts milk production. Lack of reliable water is one of the strongest constraints on dairy yields, particularly during Kenya’s dry seasons. 

Our 2026 priorities include: 

• Diagnosing SACCO constraints and unit economics 
• Supporting up to four SACCOs through their first ACL disbursements 
• Testing the minimum effective level of support required for SACCOs to offer ACLs profitably and repeatedly 

This diagnostic phase will shape a scalable blueprint SACCOs can adopt with minimal external input.

Future Plans and Impact Potential

If pilots demonstrate strong uptake, repayment, and operational fit, we will expand to additional SACCOs, Kenyan counties, and other countries. Our long-term aim is a scalable, market-driven ACL model that local institutions continue offering independently. Our target cost-effectiveness - based on deliberately conservative assumptions - is $12 per income doubling ($30 per DALY-equivalent). If successful, this approach could unlock a fair, scalable, financially sustainable path for millions of farmers to invest in tools that raise incomes, strengthen resilience, and support long-term livelihoods.