Rural Finance: Insights From Three Continents

In recent years, an enormous growth in global agricultural markets has led to a renewed interest and innovative developments in this domain. What are these developments? What experiences exist throughout the world? And what can we learn from them in order to support a more sustainable rural and agricultural finance?

The present issue of Passerelles tries to shed some light on these issues, with the following articles:

• Recent trends in agricultural finance: New approaches to address and overcome main barriers and challenges. Massimo Pera (FAO) provides a global perspective and points out the need to adopt a value chain approach to rural and agricultural finance.
• Saving drops of water and nurturing life: Financing arboriculture projects and irrigation systems in rural Morocco. Juana Ramirez from ADA speaks about agricultural modernization in Morocco.
• Planting the seeds of inclusion: An alternative pathway for coffee production. A group of researchers from Nitlapan and the IOB describe the coffee value chain in Nicaragua.
• Friendship: A firm spot in the shifting sands of Bangladesh. Marina Abboud from ADA examines the experience of the Friendship NGO in Bangladesh.
• Entrepreneurial success, social capital and microfinance. Luminita Postelnicu and Niels Hermes explain how social capital facilitates the access to finance and fosters entrepreneurship.