Agriculture & Finance at the crossroads?

AgriFiP (“Agricultural Finance in Practice”) is a national knowledge platform on agricultural finance, which was launched by the German Development Institute (DIE) and GIZ (Sector Project “Agricultural Trade and Value Chains”)  in March 2016. AgriFiP is designed to bridge existing gaps in communication, coordination and implementation between the agricultural and finance sector on tailor-made financial services for agricultural clients. Core elements of the recently established platform are: cross-sectoral dialogue, multi-level approach and with a clear focus on practical experiences.

Joint efforts for global food security: SEWOH Initiative “One World – No Hunger” and SDGs

To eradicate hunger and malnutrition these days and to create a framework which will ensure food security also for future generations, several national and international initiatives committed to making the achievement of these goals a reality. One of them is the special Initiative “One World – No Hunger” (SEWOH) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which was launched in 2014. The German SEWOH Initiative precedes and supports the global post-2015 development agenda (Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which clearly emphasise the access to financial services as a prominent mean to end hunger, achieve food security and to obtain higher levels of economic productivity and sustainable economic growth.

AgriFiP – Practitioners’ dialogue on agricultural finance

Together with other international commitments towards food security, SEWOH seeks a much more focused and comprehensive engagement in the field of agricultural finance. Moreover, the low coverage of financial needs clearly indicate, that previous support could not unfold effectively due to cross-sectoral weaknesses and thus often failed to reach the target group. In this context, DIE and GIZ elaborated the idea of a cross-sectoral knowledge platform on agricultural finance between the agricultural and finance sector, with representatives from German bilateral technical and financial organisations, research and financial institutions and advisors with broad sector specific experience.

The knowledge platform’s focal point does not limit itself to a cross-sectoral and multi-level approach. AgriFiP defines its scope through the deliberate incorporation of practitioners in the entire dialogue and thus makes an important difference to other existing platforms and working groups. AgriFiP’s successful launch at the DIE in Bonn in March 2016 demonstrates the willingness of representatives of the two sectors to intensify their cooperation. The next event is scheduled for summer 2016.

Dr. Lisa Wegner- Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Bonn/Germany