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> Posted by Michiel Sallaets, Communications Manager, Incofin Investment Management
To continue Sri Lanka’s development in its post-war, post-tsunami era, it’s essential that greater investments be made in the country’s agriculture sector and in its financial services for the base of the pyramid.
In Sri Lanka, about 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Agriculture is the main source of income for these people and many of them work at the smallholder level. Loans are necessary for farmers to adequately invest in seeds, fertilizers, tools, and other productive inputs. Loans can also prove instrumental in compensating for the occasional inadequate harvest. Yet, the proportion of people who have taken out loans in Sri Lanka in the past year is a dismal 9 percent. Only 22 percent of the population in the past year has saved in a financial institution.
> Posted by Michiel Sallaets, Communications Manager, Incofin Investment Management
Approximately 2.6 billion of the world’s 7.1 billion people live on less than $2 per day, and smallholder farmers are the single largest group of these, with over 600 million people. Despite some progress, the provision of financial services to rural communities, and in particular to individuals whose livelihoods depend on agricultural activities, remains a challenge. Specific risks, such as weather conditions, disease, and variations in market prices create barriers for providing financial services to this group.
Impact investors, local governments, and even local private lenders are working to overcome these challenges, and some successful models have emerged. Yet difficulties remain. The Dalberg study “Catalyzing Smallholder Agricultural Finance” showed that the smallholder demand for financing could be as large as $450 billion (estimate for 2011). In addition, of the financing that is currently provided (estimation of $9.4 billion in 2011), 90 percent is for short-term finance. Thus, only 0.2 percent of smallholders seeking financing for investments in the infrastructure and equipment that can help them achieve higher yields and productivity have their needs for financing met.
Understanding and addressing smallholder financing needs is critical in reducing poverty. Through more than 12 years of supporting rural microfinance institutions in developing countries, Incofin Investment Management has seen this repeatedly. Fairtrade International, a global non-profit working to provide a better deal for farmers and workers, had seen the same problem among its network of more than 1.2 million farmers and workers. In a survey conducted in 2012, Fairtrade farmers in Latin America alone expressed a need for $500 million to invest in infrastructure, working capital to cover purchases like seeds and fertilizer, and bridge financing to cover the period between harvest and receipt of payment from a buyer (trade finance). The survey highlighted the high demand and lack of supply for long-term loans that provide farmers with the opportunity to invest in new technologies and equipment that can lead to improved efficiency and higher yields over a sustained period.
> Posted by Antonique Koning and Kate McKee, Microfinance Specialist and Senior Adviser, CGAP
The following post was originally published on the CGAP Blog.
Microfinance investors are now openly discussing responsible investment, including balancing returns and how to reduce risks of market saturation and over-indebtedness, more than ever before. Investors agree it’s time for action. At the mid-year Social Investor Roundtable, convening of the Sangam Group (CEOs of the ten largest MIVs) and annual Development Finance Institutions (DFI) consultation on responsible finance last month they agreed on a “to-do” list of six concrete actions:
1. Join the discussion on balanced returns: Many participating investors had signed the Principles for Investors in Inclusive Finance (PIIF). Most agree that the balanced returns principle is the most difficult to pin down. The topic came up frequently: How much is too much, when it comes to prices and profits in the sector? Several MIV CEOs asserted that their commercial business model was the most effective way to drive responsible financial inclusion at scale. Eyebrows around the room shot up when one fund manager stated the target return of his fund: 20 percent. Other fund managers disagreed with the philosophy that such returns are consistent with responsible practice and desirable client outcomes. “We’re fooling ourselves” to suggest that there are few trade-offs between the financial and social bottom lines, they said. By policy some funds agree to take a lower return in the short run if it translates into better rural outreach or services like deposits that clients need and want. Sangam MIVs formed a working group on balanced returns and will feed their perspectives into related discussions led by the PIIF and Social Performance Task Force (SPTF). If you’re an investor, you should join one of these processes and help the search for a pragmatic but meaningful understanding on balanced returns.
2. Use the new Lender Guidelines on avoiding over-indebtedness. Market saturation was another hot topic: What can and should investors do about risks of market saturation and over-indebtedness? Investors in the AvOID Working Group have developed a Lender Code of Practice, which outlines steps investors should take in market analysis, due diligence, monitoring, and governance engagement. The Code has now been finalized and integrated in the PIIFs. Your investment organization can benefit by integrating the guidelines into your processes.
3. Support country-level research on market saturation and over-indebtedness: In addition to guidance that individual investors can use to rein in over-indebtedness, investors are also working together on analyzing such risks at the country or market level. DFIs and MIVs have supported this work in countries such as Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Kyrgysz Republic. Most recently, Blue Orchard, Incofin, and Oikocredit stepped up to jointly fund an innovative methodology in Cambodia that combined country-level proxies for market penetration, indicators of MFI lending practices, and surveys and qualitative research on borrower indebtedness and related factors. Findings were presented at the Social Investor Roundtable and will be formally released later this month. Sangam members committed funding to replicate the study elsewhere. Other investors can join and support expansion of this important work in additional markets.
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