Efforts to enhance rural financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa is of great importance. The digitalization of agricultural financing presents a promising path, however hindered by the limited expertise of certain financial institutions (FIs). The pan-African Community of Practice (CoP) plays a pivotal role in supporting these institutions along this transformative journey.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is a globally active provider of international cooperation for sustainable development. It has more than 50 years of experience in a wide range of fields.
A large proportion of agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa is produced by smallholder farmers in rural areas. These farmers are threatened by extreme poverty in 70% of cases. One way to combat poverty and hunger is to endeavour to integrate agri-based entrepreneurs more closely into the formal financial system. However, financial institutions (FIs) are still largely focused on urban centres and often view the integration of rural areas in terms of high costs and risks. Digitalisation offers an effective solution to enable FI to focus more on the inclusion of the agricultural sector and smallholder farmers. Processes can, for example, be organised more efficiently, less cost-intensively and with fewer risks.
FI around the world are looking for ways to digitise their operations. While some have been successful, others have found this to be a complex, costly endeavour where success is far from guaranteed. The CoP has the potential to be a valuable tool to enable cross-country learning in a cost-effective way through exchange among like-minded financial service providers.
"The added value of a pan-African community to digitalise agricultural finance is that it provides a broader perspective of ideas, knowledge, best practices, etc. that can be leveraged."
...says Mayamiko Kalizang'oma, Head of Retail and SME Banking, Centenary Bank Limited, Malawi.
Representatives of the Community of Practice (CoP) with the Lomé Declaration. Lomé 2023. @Florent Link
The BMZ-commissioned global project "Promotion of agricultural finance for agri-based enterprises in rural areas" (GP AgFin) is working with more than 80 FI from nine African countries to develop sustainable business models and customised financial services to enable agricultural enterprises and agri-based MSME to access agricultural financing. During the project's regional conference on the topic of "Digitalising Agricultural Finance", which took place in Lusaka in 2022, 80 FI representatives decided to set up an exchange platform.
"The CoP founded there was born out of the FIs' desire to stay in touch and create a framework for sharing experiences," reports Hien Isidore, Head of Development and Innovation at BAOBAB BURKINA SA. Virtual formats were set up to structure this process and webinars provided trainings and knowledge exchange.
"If the CoP didn't exist, it would have to be invented. Why? If we say today that the world is a village, technology has invaded and imposed itself on us, also because of certain events, especially Covid, which have led us to move towards digitalisation."
...so Sadio Diallo, Direktor SFD, Mali.
The CoP connects FI from nine African countries that share the common goal of driving forward the digitalisation of agricultural finance. Their aim is to learn from each other how they can improve this process. It is an advantage that some countries are already somewhat further advanced and can share experiences of challenges and failures. Mistakes that have already been made can thus be avoided by others. The community also makes it possible to develop certain strategies together, for example how customers can be better integrated. Through this form of cooperation and exchange among like-minded FI, digitalisation at participating institutions can be implemented faster, more cost-efficiently and in a more targeted manner.
"The community with nine countries and nine shared experiences can be described as a virtual library where you can recharge your batteries and develop further."
...says Sadio Diallo, Direktor SFD, Mali.
In order to further expand and institutionalise the community, 20 representatives of the CoP met in Lomé in October 2023. As a result the Lomé Declaration was signed, which defines the vision and mission of the group. "By signing the declaration, the participants, including their institutions, commit themselves to fulfilling the mission of the community," explains Fatima Aouba, Head of the Credit Department, FCPB from Burkina Faso. "This is the compass of the CoP and the roadmap for digitalisation in my institution," adds Alassane Soulemane Moussa, Head of Digital Finance, FECECAM-Benin, proudly.
Some people didn't really believe in it and saw it as a dream, but now it's a reality. And we've been lucky enough to participate in and contribute to the birth of this tool. Everyone involved has contributed to making contacts and exchanging ideas. So we're going to make sure that our exchanges are fruitful.
... says Sadio Diallo, Direktor SFD, Mali.
Today, the CoP consists of more than 90 representatives of financial institutions from nine African countries. The pan-African community is thus becoming a valuable and intrinsically motivated instrument on the path to digital transformation and the inclusion of rural areas in agricultural financing in the fight against poverty and hunger.
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It is 2080. We are on a farm somewhere in Africa. Everything is digital. The blockchain is an omnipotent point of reference, and the farm is flourishing. But then, everything goes wrong. A dystopian short story, written exclusively for SEWOH.
A contribution by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Africa’s population is young and ready to take its destiny into its own hands. Agriculture offers amazing opportunities in this regard. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants to support the next generation in this way.
At the moment, the agricultural industries of African countries exist in relative isolation. Imagine peasant farmers digitally connected to the value chains of the global food industry. How could this happen? A guidebook.
Interview with Gnininkaboka Dabiré and Innocent Somé
Later on you want to become a farmer yourself, or would you prefer to take up another profession? Two young people from Burkina-Faso talked to representatives of the Dreyer Foundation about their parents' farms, the profession of farmer and their own plans for the future.
As President of the IABM cooperative in Muhanga, Alphonsine Mukankusi is not simply focused on the figures. She has learned how to deal with people and how to take on responsibility. At the same time, her work helps her to come to terms with the past
Agnes Kalibata, AGRA president since 2014 and former minister of agriculture and wildlife in Rwanda, is convinced that Africa's economy will only grow sustainably if small-scale agriculture is also seen as an opportunity.
The world’s population keeps on growing; with this rise comes an increased need for food as well as productive employment opportunities. Offering young people in rural areas better employment prospects is one of the objectives of the sector project. The young population is the key to a modern and efficient agricultural economy.
A Contribution by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
At the network meeting "Partners for change - Transformation to a food secure, resilient and sustainable future", almost 250 participants from over 20 countries came together to exchange experiences and ideas on the transformation of agricultural and food systems. The final product, joint recommendations to transform agricultural and food systems, can now be read online.
It takes the joint efforts of diverse actors to achieve a transformative impact on the global food system. Barbara Rehbinder, Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (SUN), discusses four people-centred principles to get closer to this goal.
Roughly 800 million people suffer from hunger worldwide. Change is needed - for people and for the environment. Brot für die Welt reports on the starting points offered by everyone's ecological footprint and handprint.
Shu Wen Ng is a health economist. She knows what is best suited to go on a plate. But how can this be achieved on a mass scale in countries with lower incomes? "The solutions to gett there already exist," she says, "but what is often missing is courageous leadership to implement them."
During the Women Leadership Programme in May 2024, around 20 women from African countries and Germany met again for a one-week workshop in Bavaria, Germany to become fit for leadership in their organisations. One topic that concerns the women across countries is climate change, but also violence against women and their discrimination in agriculture.
At the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit (AFSH), organized by the African Union (AU) and the Government of Kenya in May, the Nairobi Declaration was adopted. It aims to triple domestic production of organic and inorganic fertilizers by 2034 and to improve access and affordability for smallholder farmers. GIZ reviews the Summit.
Peasant farmers tend to fail due to bank credit limits. But investment could help them generate a sustainable income. This has given rise to an intense discussion about potential digital solutions.
Companies in Africa that need financing between $20,000 and $200,000 find relatively few investors, as this sector is too large for microcredit and too small for institutional investors. This creates a "gap in the middle" where companies have limited options. A project of the World Resource Institute provides a remedy with the Landaccelerator 2020.
Startups are booming in African agriculture. What are the current trend and challenges – and can other regions benefit from innovative approaches? A Video-Interview with Claudia Makadristo, Regional Manager of Seedstars
Lots of apps are entering the market, but what really makes sense? For African agriculture, some of it seems like a gimmick, some like a real step forward. So this is what a smallholder farm in Africa could look like today - with the help of smartphones, internet and electricity.
What Africa is experiencing in the course of digitisation is a disruption. Here three steps are taken in one, there you remain. In any case, the changes are enormous and bring some surprises. A graphic walk.
Africa has a huge opportunity to make agriculture its economic driver. However, the potential for this is far from being made exhaustive use of, one reason being that women face considerable difficulties in their economic activities. The organisation AWAN Afrika seeks to change this state of affairs.
While Africa is the least affected region by Covid-19 so far, the number of confirmed cases and deaths on the continent is quickly rising. Despite the challenges many African countries continue to face, the African response to the coronavirus pandemic displays innovation and ingenuity.
How investing in healthy soils provides incentives for more sustainable agriculture even as it demonstrates the need for far reaching changes in the agrisector.
At the 8th German-African Agribusiness Forum (GAAF) representatives from business and politics discussed successful investment models to improve living conditions in Africa.
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.
The CompensACTION Initiative for food security and a healthy planet, launched by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in 2022, is gaining momentum. It aims to financially compensate smallholder farmers for their contribution to preserving ecosystems. Initial successes have been achieved in Ethiopia, Lesotho and Brazil.
Rose Okello is a Matoke farmer and single mother living in a village near Mbarara, a town in southern Uganda. To ensure that she can pay for her family's food, her children's school fees and other expenses on time, Rose uses various financial services. Her story portrays hurdles but also hope for women in agribusiness.
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