Big sums of money are flowing into food and farming, but it is still going to the wrong places. A recent UN report points to the vast majority of agricultural subsidies being environmentally harmful. Fertiliser subsidies…

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Outsourced costs, i.e. externalities such as water pollution and biodiversity loss, are not shown on company balance

sheets, nor are they reflected in food prices. As a result, they provide the wrong incentives for…

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Global food and agricultural policies are, by and large, not fit to support agri-food systems in sustainably delivering food

security and adequate nutrition for all. World-wide economic growth prospects are bleak, and…

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Often, the business models of classic financial service providers are not tailored to the special needs of farmers,

especially those of small-scale farmers. A number of other models have evolved in which the actors from…

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While financial products and systems have been improved in many urban areas of the Global South, their provision

is lagging behind severely in the rural regions. It has been estimated that an annual capital volume of…

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The 2003 Maputo Declaration aimed at boosting African agriculture requires governments to make difficult decisions on

budget priorities. Furthermore, tracking the progress of the initiative presents problems. Our author…

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The potential the African food sector holds is still far too strongly associated with the continent’s natural resources,

Ben Leyka maintains. He seeks to change this with the African Agri Council.

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Creating resilient food systems for people vulnerable to droughts calls for solutions triggering transformation. A number

of multilateral funds have been established to generate sustainable benefits in this context. Our…

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Even after 50 years of permanent shortcomings in rural financing, governments and banks are still bent on old-school thinking, the Secretary General of the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association…

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A sustainable transformation of our agricultural and food systems cannot succeed without the financial engagement of

the private sector. Helvetas’ Water Productivity Project is an example of how such engagement can…

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