Without financial access and sufficient yearly earnings, many farmers also lose up to 50 percent of their annual potential income because they must gain quick access to cash to afford household expenses all year. In the time leading up to harvest, farmers often experience a “hungry season” in which they struggle to pay for family necessities including food. To make ends meet until their crops are ready to be sold, many farmers are forced to borrow from unregulated moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates or sell their future harvest early at a reduced rate to receive the cash they need to buy clothes, feed their children and survive. To address these challenges, Opportunity’s agricultural finance initiative provides smallscale farmers with all of the tools they need – including a full range of financial services – to sustainably improve their crop yields, reduce hunger and food insecurity and meet the growing worldwide demand for food.