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Understanding the Needs of Farmers in Kyenjojo, Uganda
is more than just and and business—it’s a way forward for many families with few resources and little hope. Wherever we work, we strive to understand the local communities and to get to know the families who use our resources. This is my third in a six-part blog series that explores how we serve the Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, bank branch, cassava, Clients, coffee farmer, Community, crop yields, Drought, Farmer, Kyenjojo Blog Series, Kyenjojo branch, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Uganda
What We’re Reading: The Launch of Roger Thurow’s New Book The Last Hunger Season
If you’re looking for a summer read that inspires, Roger Thurow just released his new book, The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change. The Last Hunger Season gives you a look into the lives of four smallholder farming families in western Kenya as they work to move from subsistence Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Ending Hunger, Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, Farmer, farming, Food security, Global Agriculture and Food Policy, Global Food for Thought blog, Hunger, Kenya, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, Roger Thurow, Smallholder farmer, what we're reading, Women, women farmers
Partnering with Nicaraguan Yucca Farmers to Increase Their Profits
A pungent, unfamiliar, almost rancid but still sweet, scent hit my nostrils: freshly ground yucca meets a growling grinder. Five men man the contraption: one filling the large funnel, one jamming a large stick into the funnel to feed the yucca chunks into the grinder, one scooping the pulp out of the bottom, one shoveling Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Asset-Based Community Development, Cargill, Clients, Community, David Kone, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Financial services, Insight Trip, Latin America, Microfinance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, starch, Technology, Training, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, yucca
Stand Up For Africa’s Farmers
When times are tough, it’s important to stay focused on what matters to you. At Opportunity, we remain focused on delivering microfinance services that make a real impact on our clients living in very difficult economic situations. In particular, our agricultural finance programs in Africa enable smallholder farmers to pay their bills throughout the growing Read more…
Tagged Advocacy, Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Banking on Africa, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Ending Poverty, Facebook, Farmer, Financial services, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, ONE, ONE Campaign, Opportunity Blog, Opportunity International, Political advocacy, Poverty, Smallholder farmer, Social Media, Twitter
Melinda French Gates on the Impact of Agricultural Finance
Want to do more to impact global poverty? In an interview in the August issue of Smithsonian magazine, Melinda Gates outlines the techniques the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is using to fight global poverty in the 21st century. (“Melinda French Gates on Saving Lives,” by Terence Monmaney) It’s part of the magazine’s 40th-anniversary issue, featuring ”40 Things You Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agriculture Microfinance, Agrifinance, Asia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cell phone banking, Clients, Community, Crop insurance, Education, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Farmers, Financial services, Green Revolution, Healthcare, Hunger, Insurance, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Melinda Gates, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Banking, Opportunity International, Savings, Schools, Smallholder farmer, Students, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Training, Weather-index crop insurance, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
Spotlight on Agricultural Finance: An Interview with an Agriculture Finance Officer
“Most of the world’s poor are smallholder farmers and their families. By targeting them, we can dramatically reduce extreme poverty and food insecurity.” -UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, addressing the Malawian parliament on May 29, 2010. Through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation, Opportunity is now offering greater financial Read more…
Tagged accra, Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, andrew koehler, Ban Ki-moon, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Farmers, Financial Times, Ghana, Insurance, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Training, Uganda, United Nations
Crop Insurance: Protecting Farmers Against the Effects of Climate Change
Jeffrey Ebarrita (right) uses a GPS device to survey the land of Rodolfo Felipe, an Opportunity crop insurance policyholder in the Philippines. A recent UPI wire story, which highlights Opportunity International’s weather-index crop insurance, hails microinsurance as an exciting new tool to help communities in the developing world face the worst impacts of climate change. The article, Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Asia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Climate Change, Drought, Farmer, Koko Warner, Malawi, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Shadreck Mapfumo, Smallholder farmer, United Nations, UPI wire story, Weather-index crop insurance
