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This publication provides insight into the nature and operations of agricultural investment funds and draws lessons for development agencies, governments and investors. It was developed from “Agricultural investment funds for developing countries” (2009), a research study undertaken as a joint collaboration of ConCap Connective Capital (ConCap) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in order to better understand the growth and potential of agriculture and agribusiness investment funds. It included a stocktaking analysis of agricultural investment funds as well as case studies of distinct funds and fund management structures. This publication is enhanced with a complementary analysis of agricultural funds in the broader context [...]

Microcredit and micro-insurance, considered within the larger microfinance current, are two risk management tools currently being developed by governments and international development agencies to reduce vulnerability associated with poverty in rural areas. Discussions about credit protection increasingly invoke the need to create linkages with insurance services that are tailored to the risks rural people in developing countries face. Once a country’s financial and banking sectors have been developed, the pairing of these two instruments could do one of two things. It may present a veritable opportunity to emerge from the vicious cycle of poverty, or it may introduce an additional [...]

This paper first examines the characteristics of rural financial services, including demand and supply factors in rural financial markets. It draws attention to past failures of centralized and directed rural credit services, and the emergence of a new broader vision of rural financial services, based on liberal economics and decentralization policies. The conceptual framework for reform of rural financial services is discussed, and important principles of decentralization reiterated. Policy implications, in terms of options for decentralization, and the roles and responsibilities of the government are next examined. Various options which might be considered under deconcentration, devolution, and diversification of ownership of [...]