Publication database

This report takes stock of the increasingly pluralistic landscape of agricultural small- and medium-sized enterprise (agri-SME) finance in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, with the aim to establish a new perspective on the market overall - sizing and segmenting the market in new ways, reflecting on the rapidly accelerating imperative around climate, and identifying new priorities for action.

Conexsus supports small farmers associations and cooperatives that work under a income-generating model that preserves standing forest and other biomes. It focuses on three lines of action: business model, market access, and impact finance.

Fomento Social Banamex is the philanthropic arm of Citibanamex Mexico, and its goal is to reduce inequality in Mexico. It promotes capacity-building for social organizations to better meet the needs of marginalized communities living in poverty. Under this scheme and through its strategic partners, it has supported Unión Majomut, a cooperative of coffee farmers from Chiapas, so that it partakes in the entire value chain and earns a higher income for partner families.

This learning paper adds to the body of knowledge on the commercial and development impact potential of smallholder-sourcing agribusiness models. It quantifies the share of investment flowing to agribusinesses sourcing from smallholder farmers within the broader category of agriculture. In addition, it captures 15 investor perspectives on the commercial viability and development impact of companies that source from smallholder farmers.

There is a strong need for increased adoption of sustainable agricultural practices to bring the food from farm to fork while addressing three major challenges: feeding a growing population, providing a livelihood for farmers, and environmental protection. This is where decentralised renewable energy (DRE) technologies must play a key role. Moreover, as innovation in DRE-powered agricultural equipment and appliances steam ahead, their technical and commercial viability will improve further. Based on best practices from the 15 case studies, this publication makes recommendations for public and private stakeholders.

As we collectively work towards achieving the SDGs by 2030, this volume of the Sahel Quarterly presents practical solutions by exploring ten critical trends in the African agriculture and food landscapes that stakeholders must prioritize in the next decade. From the growing number of agri-tech start-ups to the dramatic increases in the penetration of mobile technology across the continent, reliance on big data, and the growing demand for equality and inclusion at all levels, it is evident that the continent is at a tipping point. 

The factsheet shortly explains the role of IFC in financing inclusive business endeavours. Describing untapped business opportunities among low-income communities, the article emphasizes the win-win of inclusive business models for economic growth and human development.

This report explores the role of different kinds of capital in bending the arc of agricultural market development towards inclusive growth. It pays particular attention to how impact-focused players deploying capital that is flexible in terms of risk-return expectations can best deploy it in order to catalyse large-scale transformations towards inclusion.

IDH convenes companies, CSOs, governments and others in public-private partnerships. The IDH Annual Report 2018 highlights the activities of IDH and their partner network towards reaching the SDGs. 

To boost agricultural development in developing countries, donors are increasingly resorting to blended finance: the practice of combining public development funds with private resources. Blended finance may open opportunities to inject more resources into the food and agriculture sector, but the assumptions that blended finance is inherently beneficial for agricultural development and that it is an efficient way to finance smallholder agriculture, are not supported by the evidence currently available.

This paper argues that private finance blending should be used with caution in rural development until donors can demonstrate the merits of blending using evidence-based results, in particular the added value of blending for development impact. This is especially important given the obligations of donors to make progress on the reduction of social, economic and gender inequalities. The increasing focus on private finance should not obscure the vital role of public finance in promoting inclusive agricultural transformation that benefits small-scale farmers.