EPAR Technical Report #307
Wed, 09/30/2015
Authors: 
Pierre Biscaye
Chris Clark
Katie Panhorst Harris
C. Leigh Anderson
Mary Kay Gugerty
Abstract: 

This report reviews and summarizes the existing evidence on the impact of access to financial services/products on measures of production, income and wealth, consumption and food security, and resilience for smallholder farmers  and other rural customers and their households in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study covers four main types of financial products/services: 1) credit; 2) savings; 3) insurance; 4) transactional products. We also review the very limited evidence on the effectiveness of bundling these products/services together and of combining them with other offerings such as trainings or support for access to markets, and of providing them via digital channels. We note when financial products/services have been specifically designed to serve the needs of rural customers or smallholder farmers, since the needs of these groups are often very different from those of other stakeholders.

See the final report posted by the MasterCard Foundation's Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab.

View blog post summarizing this work. 

 

Type of Research: 
Literature Review
Research Topic Category: 
Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods
Finance & Investment
Information & Mobile Technology
Population(s): 
Rural Populations
Smallholder Farmers
Geographic focus: 
Sub-Saharan Africa