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Badly Needed, Hard to Deliver: The Challenges of Selling Drought Insurance to African Farmers
Millions of poor farmers in Africa can't move beyond subsistence levels because of droughts and other weather disasters. Insuring farmers against these risks is key to helping build their resilience to climate shocks. But providing this insurance – while making a profit – is no easy matter. Jim Hight explores the challenges in discussing WorldCover, a drought insurance provider that's gaining traction in Africa.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
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Smallholders as Customers, Not Pupils: Making the Case for Good Agricultural Practices
Good agricultural practices offer smallholders the promise of improved food safety, food quality and environmental stewardship. But they also bring the risks of implementing costly new methods and standards. To overcome farmers' reluctance to adopt these practices, Ben Fowler of MarketShare Associates and Clara Yoon at MEDA write that agricultural organizations should adopt a customer-centric approach – treating smallholders as customers rather than beneficiaries of know-how.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Mastercard and Rabobank Roll out Financial Inclusion Platform for Farmers in Emerging Markets
Many smallholder farmers in these countries have limited access to market information, finance and management skills, leading to insecurity, inefficiencies and unsustainable business practices. Through the platform, farmers can connect with potential buyers, access mobile payment tools, and build a digital transaction record that can be used to access formal credit from a financial institution.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
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‘Pilots Never Fail, Pilots Never Scale’: Why the Global Development Community Needs a More Realistic Approach to Reaching Billions
We live in an era that calls for large-scale social and environmental transformation – but our standard approaches aren't working. As Lennart Woltering at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center sees it, we need larger systems change. He shares a new paper that argues that agricultural development should stop focusing narrowly on making an impact through specific projects, and instead transform the underlying system so new technologies can be used by millions.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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He Grew Up on a Farm. Now, He Helps Protect Them.
Thomas Njeru is a co-founder of a microinsurance firm based in Kenya that covers small farms across Africa and provides protection for low-income individuals who do not have access to conventional coverage.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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This AI Helps Kenyan Farmers To Know When To Plant Their Crops
In order to see how artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data could help those farmers, French consultancy firm Capgemini teamed up with a Kenyan social enterprise in the Kakamega region in Western Kenya.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Capgemini Turns to AI to Fix Food Supply Chain Sustainability
Business consulting giant Capgemini has launched a project which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to support farmers in improving environmental practices on their land.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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Mastercard Launches Digital Sales Platform For Farmers
“At Mastercard, we envision a world in which economic growth is truly inclusive,” said Arjan Bol, Netherlands country manager for Mastercard. “Mastercard Farmer Network contributes to this by offering a digital platform that makes it safer and simpler for small-holder farmers to grow their business."
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance