12 °c
London
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAfrica
No Result
View All Result
Home Agriculture

East Africa: Regional Smallholders to Benefit From Mastercard

FurtherAfrica by FurtherAfrica
January 18, 2016
in Agriculture, Aid, Banking, Economy, FDI, Finance, Natural Resources
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
0

AgDevCo, in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, recently announced a $15.4 million plan to boost the incomes of smallholder farmers in Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia writes SAM OKWAKOL.

AgDevCo, which is a specialist agriculture impact investor, has developed a Smallholder Development Unit (SDU) to work with the farmers to increase their productivity and strengthen their ties with local agribusinesses.

Sandi Roberts, the newly appointed head of AgDevCo’s SDU, said, “Boosting farmer productivity is not enough. Farmers need long-term relationships with trusted buyers who pay fair prices. The SDU can help farmers who need reliable markets and local agribusinesses who need quality raw materials.”

Activities will include providing training and better quality inputs to farmers, implementing mobile technology solutions, and brokering long-term purchase contracts.

The SDU will develop 25 ‘outgrower schemes’ over five years, directly benefitting up to half a million farmers, half of them women under the age of 35 years.

Ann Miles, Director of Financial Inclusion and Youth Livelihoods at The MasterCard Foundation, said, “We are excited about the potential of this work with AgDevCo to drive the adoption of new technologies – such as mobile phones, cashless payments and micro-insurance products – by a younger generation of African farmers.

The MasterCard Foundation works with visionary organizations to provide greater access to education, skills training and financial services for people living in poverty, primarily in Africa. It is one of the largest, independent foundations and its work is guided by its mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to alleviate poverty.

Based in Toronto, Canada, its independence was established by MasterCard when the Foundation was created in 2006.

Miles said: “We want to help to shift the perception of agriculture so that young people see it as a viable livelihood in which they can imagine a beneficial and sustainable future.”

According to a release, many smallholder farmer projects help improve yields, but do not establish reliable links to markets.

The SDU can take advantage of the fact that AgDevCo – and its sister working capital facility Lending for African Farming LAFCo – already invest in storage, trading and processing businesses which source crops such as maize, sunflower, groundnuts, chillies and avocadoes.

The SDU aims to make an important contribution to AgDevCo’s mission of investing in agricultural enterprises in Africa to create jobs, improve food security and increase rural prosperity.

The AgDevCo partnership adds to The MasterCard Foundation’s growing portfolio of work supporting smallholder farmers in Africa. To date, the Foundation has committed more than $175 million to agricultural finance projects which will improve lives of an estimated 3.5 million people living in poverty.

Source: AllAfrica

Related

Tags: AgDevCoavocadocapital facilitychilliescreditfarmersGhanagroundnutsmaizeMalawiMasterCard FoundationMozambiqueSenegalsmallholder farmerssunflowerTanzaniaUgandaZambia
FurtherAfrica

FurtherAfrica

Founded in 2015 FurtherAfrica is an online platform centralising news and content focusing on the development and growth story of the African continent.

Related Posts

COP 28: Navigating climate finance – PALOP perspectives and innovation
COP 28

COP 28: Navigating climate finance – PALOP perspectives and innovation

by Elizabeth Khumalo
December 5, 2023
Business

3 Innovative investment opportunities for African citizens

by FurtherAfrica
December 5, 2023
COP 28: Mozambique and Belgium announce landmark debt-for-climate swap
COP 28

COP 28: Mozambique and Belgium announce landmark debt-for-climate swap

by Elizabeth Khumalo
December 4, 2023
FDI

Ethiopia records US$765M FDI inflows in Q1

by FurtherAfrica
December 4, 2023
Construction of 264km northern railway line in Namibia 90% complete
Economy

South Africa throws troubled Transnet US$2.5B lifeline

by FurtherAfrica
December 4, 2023
Mozambique eVisa
 
MozParks

Translate this page

Read the Latest

COP 28: Navigating climate finance – PALOP perspectives and innovation
COP 28

COP 28: Navigating climate finance – PALOP perspectives and innovation

by Elizabeth Khumalo
December 5, 2023
0

An insightful parallel event on Climate Financing took center stage yesterday at COP28 in Dubai, shedding light on the challenges...

Read more

Mozambique’s gas production to rise by 1% in 2024

December 5, 2023

COP 28: African countries to join battery energy storage systems consortium

December 5, 2023

COP28: Mozambique defends resilience in development investments

December 5, 2023

Angolan President highlights commitment to renewable energies

December 5, 2023

FurtherAfrica Partners Network

The Exchange Farmers Review Africa 360 Mozambique
TechGist Africa Energy Capital & Power Club of Mozambique
Taarifa Rwanda Web3Africa See Africa Today
Africa Global Funds Novafrica CrudeMix Africa
Harambee Africa Botswana unplugged Financial Insights Zambia
O Económico Digilogic Africa  

Subscribe to FurtherAfrica

Enter your email address to receive new articles on your email.

Join 107.2K other subscribers
FurtherAfrica

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

FurtherAfrica is a FurtherMarkets Limited platform

  • Countries
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?