finance

The Fin4Ag conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya, July 2014, specifically focusing on agri-financing. This conference report (PDF) by The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) provides a valuable overview of the event »

Financial cooperatives and microfinance institutions (MFIs) are the two major sources of rural finance in Ethiopia. Whereas MFIs are relatively new, financial cooperatives have existed for centuries in various forms. The coexistence of two different institutions serving the same group of people, and delivering the same financial services, raises several policy questions. Those questions have become particularly relevant, as the government has embarked on developing a new strategy for improving rural financial services delivery. This study serves as an input to that policy discussion. »

This report (PDF) from The Overseas Development Institute (ODI), describes a case study where degraded land in Burkina Faso was brought into productive use through the application of improved traditional farming techniques. Three main factors have contributed to achieving this progress: 1. farmers had valuable local knowledge of suitable and efficient traditional farming methods; 2. »

This toolbox is to design greenhouse production systems in various climate zones and locations in Africa. he toolbox will result in a number of greenhouse cultivation systems that are most suitable for a given location, weighing perspectives such as greenhouse type, greenhouse installation, climate, production and economic viability. »

This report (PDF) by CGIAR CCAFS explores evidence and insights from five case studies that have made significant recent progress in addressing the challenge of insuring poor smallholder farmers and pastoralists in the developing world. »

Integrated Landscape Initiatives (ILIs) have unique financing needs: they need investment and financial support timeframes. Integrated landscape management (ILM) provides a context to spatially target and harmonize investments so that they can efficiently yield public goods and private financial returns while mitigating investment risks. In Africa, financing systems for ILM must support local, national, and »