Friday, November 7, 2014
MasterCard Foundation Funding $15.5 Million Program to Assist Small Farmers in Africa
The programme will accelerate the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa's (AGRA) effort to improve markets, soils, and access to high-yield crop varieties for the smallholder farmers, particularly women.
“We welcome this new initiative because it will enable us to deal with the critical challenges facing farmers in accessing finance to buy inputs, invest in post-harvest technologies, and access storage facilities for their crops to help uplift them from poverty,” said Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of AGRA.
The programme has a strong emphasis in developing and scaling up innovations, such as the use of ICT and other branchless banking tools, to support farmer access to financial and non-financial services....