Webinar: Voluntary Sustainability Standards and Investments in Agricultural Producers from Developing Countries

Speakers: Aimee Hampel, Asian Development Bank, Birasa Nyamulinda, Rwanda Development Board, Geert Eenhoorn, Rainforest Alliance, Christian Novak, Frontier Markets Advisors Inc, Cristina Larrea, Sustainability Standards Lead, IISD and Francesca Nugnes, IISD

Date: November 27, 2019

Description: Agricultural producers in developing countries still face major challenges in accessing finance, especially long-term finance, in a context where Financial Service Providers (FSPs) are also inhibited by the perceived risks of the sector. In addition, evidence reports there are limited cases of agricultural producers that are investment ready due to their insufficient knowledge of FSP’s requirements to grant finance, as well as the accompanied extension services to enhance their bankability.

What are FSPs’ concerns when assessing financial requests from agricultural producers in developing countries to grant finance? How can Voluntary Sustainability Standards be leveraged to mitigate the financial risk of investments and ultimately enable agricultural producers’ access to finance?

The webinar explores these questions and presents the results of an Expert Consultation to FSPs, carried by IISD in June 2019, about the sustainability issues they consider important to reduce financial risk and ensure impact when investing in agricultural producers in developing countries.