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Women Feeding Africa: Innovative Business Solutions to Close the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity
Women quite literally feed sub-Saharan Africa: They make up 50% of its agricultural labor force and contribute 60-80% of its food. Yet they also face unique constraints that limit their productivity and reduce their returns. What would happen if women could access the same productivity resources as men? Agnes Makena and Racheal Wangari at Intellecap explore that question, highlighting enterprises and initiatives with innovative solutions to support Africa’s female farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Liberia’s Miracle Oil Brings Farmers Only Empty Promises
“We embraced the company because we wanted development,” he says, remembering the promises of schools and clinics if local people gave up land. “We were expecting education for our children, employment, healthcare.”
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: ABC Fund Makes First Investment, Backing Cocoa Cooperative in Côte D’Ivoire
This investment will support over 2,700 cocoa farmers and is the first of a series of investments into cocoa cooperatives that together will help 10,000 cocoa farmers gain greater market access and secured revenue.
- Source
- Press Release
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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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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