Farmer Technical Assistance

Technical assistance programs can be highly effective in helping smallholder farmers improve their agronomic skills, business and financial skills, and access to markets, though current donor spending is small relative to the potential need. TA for farmers can include: agronomic training, including public sector extension, value chain development, and financial or digital literacy.

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Cracking the Nut: ICCO's 4 Lessons to Boost the Onion Value Chain

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In Senegal, onion is the most consumed vegetable, but annual production does not...

Tulaa SDM Case Study

Analysis: Key insights from Tulaa’s experience in building an end-to-end digital solution connecting farmers to markets

Rural finance providers: A new segmentation for an expanding market

Report: In a series of blogs, ISF Advisors and the Mastercard Foundation Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab (the Lab) will introduce major concepts and frameworks that will anchor our upcoming State of the Sector report for rural finance. Building on the “industry model” developed in our 2016 Inflection Point report, these frameworks aim to bring further clarity and insight to the three layers of the market: Rural clients, financial service providers (FSPs), and the capital markets. We hope that by sharing early versions of this thinking we can stimulate debate and discussion across the sector about what is needed to continue to enhance access to rural, agricultural financial services. 

Skills for success: FSP perspectives on business development support for smallholder finance

Analysis: The eleventh blog in the Pulse series aims to outline key insights from a recent ISF survey on the growing ecosystem of Business Development Services (BDS) to help financial service providers (FSPs) better reach smallholders.

Protecting growing prosperity: Agricultural insurance in the developing world

Report: A new landscape report by ISF Advisors, with support from the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, highlights the current status and future development of agricultural insurance for smallholder farmers. Based on interviews with more than forty-five key agricultural insurance stakeholders, our research paints a picture of an industry that shows great potential but struggles to achieve the necessary scale and product-level refinements.

Webinar materials: Women's empowerment in smallholder finance, combining social and business goals for good

Tool: Download the materials below, including presentation slides, the webinar recording, to learn how organizations such as AgDevCo and Opportunity International, are integrating both business and social goals to empower women in smallholder finance.

Why Root Capital's talent management program is a win-win for rural businesses and young talent

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Video: Going digital to reach the unreachable

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Multiple farmers working in single field

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