Financing the rural world

For many farmers in the Global South, financing their agricultural activity is still too often like a treasure hunt… We support responsible and sustainable financing solutions tailored to rural actors, particularly family farms.

The issues

In rural areas, microfinance institutions face constraints in terms of costs and access to refinancing, as well as governance and management issues among their local partners. They generally offer short-term credit. Commercial banks tend to focus on the marketing of high value-added export products, thus neglecting the food crop sectors. Faced with the lack of formal credit provision in the private sector, small producers often resort to informal credit. On the part of governments and donors, the issue of financing agriculture and the agroecological transition has long focused on the mobilisation of budgetary resources. However, the financing needs required for the scaling up of agroecology and the adaptation of agricultural systems to climate change have the dual characteristic of being (i) new: changes in terms of crop cycles, cultivation practices, inputs, equipment, etc. and (ii) significant: the primary sector is often the leading economic sector in the Global South and agro-sylvo-pastoral activities concern a large part of the populations of these countries.

Our services

We analyse the existing needs and tools in terms of financing at the different links of the agricultural value chains, if necessary by collaborating with specialised firms in order to offer the most relevant solutions to the actors of the agricultural world. Through consulting and training activities, we strengthen the capacities of financing actors in the areas of sustainable agriculture, agroecology and climate-smart agriculture. We evaluate the agricultural financing portfolios of microfinance institutions and development banks, and help them develop financial strategies and products that promote agroecological transition and strengthen resilience to climatic hazards.