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Bringing Agricultural Insurance to Climate-Vulnerable Farmers: A Unique Pilot Program in Nepal Shows How to Unlock the Benefits of Index-Based Insurance for Smallholders
Nepal's topography and climatic conditions make it uniquely prone to natural disasters. As Maria Perdomo at UNCDF explains, these disasters threaten the country's economic development, and smallholder farmers and rural women are disproportionately affected. She discusses a UNCDF pilot program that brought agricultural insurance coverage to Nepali smallholders, and shares learnings from the program that could inform efforts to deliver insurance to farmers in other climate-vulnerable countries in Asia and beyond.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Finance
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Some Things Have to Die for Others to Live: Why Scaling Down is Just as Important as Scaling Up in the Transformation of Global Food Systems
Multiple crises have exposed the fragility and inequity of global food systems. But according to Eva Valencia and Lennart Woltering at CIMMYT and Frédéric Goulet at CIRAD, strategies to transform the world's food systems typically focus on introducing or scaling up new innovations and programs, while failing to scale down the habits, mindsets and institutions that are perpetuating the problem. They explore a key example of this issue — the ongoing use of unsustainable farming practices like tilling — and discuss how farmers can move toward more sustainable "no-till" practices that protect soil health.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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LeapFrog Invests $70 Million in Kenya-Based Solar Home Systems Provider Sun King
The recent investment will help in the expansion of Sun King, enabling them to accelerate rural electrification.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Simba Telecom to Invest $1 Million in New Year Investment Plans to Boost Its Market Presence
The investment will allow Simba Group to reach wider geographical zones and ultimately improve speed to market.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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India’s SarvaGram Closes Oversubscribed Series C Round at $35 Million
SarvaGram Solutions will expand its impact with the funding, empowering rural India’s aspirations through a carefully devised data-driven distribution.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Varthana Raises $7 Million From MicroVest to Transform Affordable Education in India
The funds from MicroVest aim to support Varthana in transforming affordable education in rural India.
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Gridworks To Invest $50 Million In Virunga Power To Ramp Up Run-Of-River Hydro Projects Across Several African Countries
Distributed mini hydro plants around perennial rivers offer opportunities to provide reliable baseload power for rural communities.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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GM to Put Thousands of Electric Vehicle Chargers in Rural America
General Motors is moving ahead with plans to install as many as 40,000 electric vehicle chargers in, mostly, rural parts of America. This comes as GM plans to sell exclusively zero-emission passenger vehicles by 2035.
- Categories
- Technology, Transportation
- Region
- North America
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