In a session on strengthening agricultural value chains today at European Microfinance Week, Daphne van Dam of Cordaid described her organization’s work to support onion farmers in Senegal. The farmers were struggling with the cost of fuel for irrigation. Cordaid was able to partner with local microfinance and solar providers to supply farmers with solar-powered irrigation systems that they could pay for on a schedule attuned to the harvest time of their crop.
Magdalena Arbelaez of Incofin described her firm’s work enabling insurance for farmers in Nicaragua. Rather than microinsurance, which would have been unworkable for many of the smallholder farmers in the region, the project extended “meso-insurance” to the farmers’ local microfinance institution to insure portions of its agricultural portfolio. Over five years, the product has grown to cover 18,000 clients. Based on satellite data, it has paid out a total of USD 1 million, covering five losses, including damage caused by three hurricanes.
Incofin also worked in Bolivia’s quinoa value chain to help farmers manage declining yields resulting from extreme weather events. The strategies included adopting organic practices and installing sensors to warn farmers about pertinent weather forecasts. In one case, many farmers were saved from losing their seeds when the sensor warned them of an upcoming period of high wind. Other farmers who did not heed the warning suffered significant losses.
Violette Cubier of the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation described her NGO’s partnership with Credit Agricole CB to lend INR 350 million (USD 4.3 million) to India’s Annapurna Finance. The co-lenders are providing technical assistance to help the microlender deploy training to women borrowers and boost solar energy access and storm resilient housing. If Annapurna meets mutually agreed-upon targets, it will earn an interest-rate reduction.
This feature is part of a sponsored series on European Microfinance Week, which is taking place in Luxembourg and online through November 18. MicroCapital has been engaged to report on the conference each year since 2012.
Additional Resources
European Microfinance Week 2022
https://emw2022.eu/
European Microfinance Award
https://www.european-microfinance-award.com
MicroCapital coverage of European Microfinance Week since 2012, including the European Microfinance Award
https://www.microcapital.org/category/european-microfinance-week/
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