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Positioning Local Banks for Success in Smallholder Finance
New research from the Initiative for Smallholder Finance reveals that approximately 290 banks in the developing world provide a total of $9 billion in local funding to smallholders – a lending rate that fails to meet 97 percent of smallholder demand for financing. To support smallholders effectively, banks must be able to lend at affordable rates, offer products specifically designed for farmers, and improve their accessibility to farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Press Release: Announcing a New Investment – KZ Noir
KZ Noir exports fully and semi washed green coffee and has two roasted coffee brands.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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PRESS RELEASE: Root Capital Highlights Business Case for Social, Environmental Due Diligence in Investment Decisions
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 28 /CSRwire/ - Root Capital, a nonprofit agricultural lender, today released a new issue brief detailing the financial benefits linked to conducting due diligence on the social and environmental practices of its borrowers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Impact Assessment
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NexThought Monday: Coffee Talk (and Action): Sustainable Harvest’s Griswold on supply chain empathy and what’s brewing for smallholder farmers
The drive toward transparency and “empathy” has been David Griswold’s mission since creating Sustainable Harvest, a seller of fair trade coffee to the likes of Green Mountain and Whole Foods. This mission to inject more symmetry into the business has served Sustainable Harvest well. In 2013, the company closed $70 million in global sales. He spoke with NextBillion about what’s next.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education
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More weather index insurance for African smallholder farmers
Weather insurance is a financial product aiming to help African farmers manage the volatility of drought and other weather crises. This week (14 Jan), IFC (www.ifc.org) signed 2 grant agreements with MicroEnsure Ltd to make more index-based weather insurance available to small-scale farmers in Rwanda and Zambia. Index-based insurance pays out on the basis of agreed weather data, such as rainfall as measured being lower than an agreed level, and is more efficient risk management tool than traditional indemnity-based agricultural insurance, which runs up high transaction costs and premiums.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Incofin Investment Management endorses need for agricultural finance by launching new $200 million agRIF fund
Incofin Investment Management (IM) is seeking to raise around USD 200 million for its new agRIF fund which will focus on the unmet global demand for financial services that target smallholder farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Small Farms, Big Funding Gap: Local bank financing for smallholder farmers meets only 3 percent of overall demand
New research reveals that local bank lending to smallholder farmers – which should be a main avenue for improving their access to finance – meets less than 3 percent of their estimated financing demand. This gap represents an obstacle to global poverty reduction efforts - and a compelling opportunity for buyers, lenders and other actors in the agricultural value chain.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Beyond Technology: Five ways to support water irrigation in Sub Saharan Africa
Despite the growing demand for irrigation technology, the International Water Management Institute found that farmers still face significant barriers to groundwater irrigation success, particularly in Sub Saharan Africa. This is why the relatively low cost treadle pump grew in popularity, but it’s not the only solution.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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