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Analysis: How Can Asia’s Smallholder Farmers Endure Both Climate Change and COVID-19?
With changing weather patterns and temperatures, farmers at the frontlines of global food production are increasingly at risk. What are their biggest challenges, and are technological innovations enough to support them?
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Environment
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AFEX Raises $50 Million for Agri-SMEs, Africa’s First Warehouse Receipt Backed Commercial Paper
AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited (AFEX), Nigeria’s leading private commodities exchange company, has announced the first Warehouse Receipt Backed Commercial Paper in Africa, with tech-enabled operations and a 24-hour fast cash turnaround for borrowers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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US $16 Million Funding for Agriculture: What It means for Liberian Farmers
Access to loans still remains a serious challenge for many Liberian farmers as commercial banks in the country are not willing to lend farmers money. This is due to the fact that many farmers lack adequate collateral to be considered bankable.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Analysis: How Smallholder Farmers Are Coping With the Pandemic
As smallholder farmers, Hakuzimana says they are faced with countless challenges such as limited market, wastage of produce and limited access to sources of agricultural productivity.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Minigrids and Cold Storage Are a Match Made in Sustainable Development Heaven – So What’s Keeping Them Apart?
The minigrid sector faces a dilemma: Most rural customers need electricity in the evenings, yet most minigrids generate their power during the day. This requires them to store unused power in expensive batteries, complement their solar power with diesel generators, or reduce production. As Seth Silverman and Tom Chaplin at Factor[e] Ventures explain, cold storage providers could offer minigrids reliable demand for their surplus power – yet these partnerships aren't happening. They explore the obstacles, and some potential solutions.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Entrepreneurship
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CropIn Raises US $20 Million in Series C Funding Round to Advance the Reach of Its Farm Management and Predictive Analytics Solutions in Asia
CropIn, a leading global artificial intelligence and data-led agri-tech organisation empowering stakeholders to reimagine agriculture with data, has raised US$ 20 million in a Series C funding round led by ABC World Asia, an Asia-focused private equity fund dedicated to evidence-based impact investing.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Documenting a Historic Year in Emerging Markets Business: Vote for the Top NextBillion Article of 2020
Like many of you, we're not sorry to see the end of 2020. But as we look back on this historic, tragic year, NextBillion would like to take a moment to appreciate the extraordinary work done by enterprises, NGOs, researchers and others in the emerging markets business sector. They have risen to the occasion in ways that can best be described as heroic – while sharing their insights in nearly 100 COVID-19-focused articles on our platform. Several of these pieces are included in our "Most Influential Article of the Year" contest, which launches today. We invite you to read these articles and vote for your favorites – the contest runs from Dec. 21 to Jan. 2.
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2020 MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTICLE CANDIDATE: Unity During the Pandemic: How the Social Enterprise Community is Coming Together to Survive COVID-19
The economic fallout from COVID-19 could increase global poverty by as much as half a billion people. And as Pamela Roussos at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship points out, the pandemic is also delivering a heavy blow to the social enterprises that fight poverty around the world. She explores some new and innovative ways these enterprises, and the broader sector, are responding to the crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship