While most banks consider Agribusiness as a risky sector to provide finance, this course discusses the need and scope for innovative financial interventions in the sector.

The course has been designed by extracting critical lessons delivered by Lorna Grace, a Financial Development specialist with more than 20 years of experience in international and domestic finance. She has consulted for several financial institutions in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The course will provide an overview of

--->Challenges for smallholder finance and approach needed to overcome them
--->Value chain finance – Leveraging relationships in the value chain for financial access
--->Important elements to be considered while designing a value chain finance product
--->Interesting developments and opportunities to look for in Agri-finance

At the end of this course and assessment, you would be able to answer/discuss the below questions with a lot more clarity and confidence.

--->Who are smallholder farmers?
--->What are the financing challenges faced by small & medium scale farmers? What approaches/solutions are currently popular in resolving smallholder finance issues?
--->What is value chain finance? Under what conditions would value chain finance work for small & medium scale farmers?
--->What elements need to be taken into consideration while designing a value chain finance product?
--->What are the Interesting developments and opportunities to look for in Agri-finance?
--->What is traders credit?
--->What is input suppliers' credit?
--->What is the agribusiness/marketing company’s credit?
--->What innovations are being used to build a credit profile and credit score for smallholder farmers?

The completion of learning and assessment can take anywhere between 3-5 hours of time investment.