Stefan Ouma seeks to debunk the misconceptions and assumptions about "finance-gone-farming" with a penetrating analysis of case studies taken from both the developed and developing world. The book provides fascinating insights into the inner workings of the agri-focused asset management industry.
This textbook integrates financial economics and management in the area of agricultural finance. The presentation of financial economics discusses how the credit needs of farmer/borrowers are met by depositors through commercial banks. The financial management content presents methods used to make farm financial decisions including farm accounting, capital budgeting, and the analysis of risk. The textbook begins by developing the farm financial market focusing primarily on the market for debt. Next, the textbook presents an overview of accounting concepts important for the credit market. The accounting section provides a detailed discussion of the Farm Financial Standards Council’s suggestions for agricultural financial statements. Following the financial accounting, the book presents the use of ratio analysis applied to the farm firm. Next, the text describes capital budgeting followed by an introduction to risk analysis. Finally, the book presents the effect of debt decisions on the farm firm. In addition to the primary topics, the textbook includes a discussion of agricultural banking and monetary policy and an analysis of the choice of historical cost and market valued accounting methodologies on the farm debt decision.
The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the current state of financial inclusion of the rural youth in Uganda, with a specific focus on their engagement in the agricultural sector and the financial services that are available to them to pursue their business ventures in this area. The study seeks to illustrate and bring to light the core constraints and opportunities associated with the provision of tailored financial services to young agricultural entrepreneurs in the country, while showcasing the essential role that key support actors (such as the Government, Central Bank, international development institutions, NGOs, foundations and many others) can play in fostering the provision and uptake of such services.
"The challenges facing agriculture are plenty. Along with the world's growing population and diminishing amounts of water and arable land, the gradual increase in severe weather presents new challenges and imperatives for producing new, more resilient crops to feed a more crowded planet in the twenty-first century. Innovation has historically helped agriculture keep pace with earth's social, population, and ecological changes. In the last 50 years, mechanical, biological, and chemical innovations have more than doubled agricultural output while barely changing input quantities. The ample investment behind these innovations was available because of a high rate of return: a 2007 paper found that the median ROI in agriculture was 45 percent between 1965 and 2005. This landscape has changed. Today many of the world's wealthier countries have scaled back their share of GDP devoted to agricultural R&D amid evidence of diminishing returns. Universities, which have historically been a major source of agricultural innovation, increasingly depend on funding from industry rather than government to fund their research. As Upton Sinclair wrote of the effects industry influences, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." In this volume of the NBER Conference Report series, editor Petra Moser offers an empirical, applied-economic framework to the different elements of agricultural R&D, particularly as they relate to the shift from public to private funding. Individual chapters examine the sources of agricultural knowledge and investigate challenges for measuring the returns to the adoption of new agricultural technologies, examine knowledge spillovers from universities to agricultural innovation, and explore interactions between university engagement and scientific productivity. Additional analysis of agricultural venture capital point to it as an emerging and future source of resource in this essential domain"--
Enabling the Business of Agriculture 2019 presents indicators that measure the laws, regulations and bureaucratic processes that affect farmers in 101 countries. The study covers eight thematic areas: supplying seed, registering fertilizer, securing water, registering machinery, sustaining livestock, protecting plant health, trading food and accessing finance. The report highlights global best performers and countries that made the most significant regulatory improvements in support of farmers.
The purpose of the 'Microfinance Handbook' is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions.
This book examines the successful private, public and civil society models of agriculture value chains in India and addresses relevant challenges and opportunities to improve their efficiency and inclusiveness. It promotes the value-chain approach as a tool to improve access to finance for small holder farmers and discusses the possible structure of and regulatory framework for the ‘National Common Agricultural Market’— a term that featured in the Indian Finance Minister’s 2014–15 budget speech, and which is aimed towards standardizing and improving transparency in agricultural trade practices across states under a single licensing system. The book deliberates on the potential of developing innovative financial instruments into the value chain framework by supporting tripartite agreements between producers, lead firms and financial institutions. Its fourteen chapters are divided into three parts—Agriculture Value Chain Financing: Theoretical Framework, Agriculture Value Chain Financing in Cases of Select Commodities; and Institutional Framework for Agriculture Value Chain Financing. Since the concept of value chain financing is being considered as a future policy agenda, the book is of great interest to corporations dealing with agricultural inputs and outputs; commercial, regional, rural and cooperative banks; policy makers; academicians and NGOs.
Forest landscapes are inhabited by approximately 1.5 billion people. The aggregate gross annual value of these smallholder producers approaches US$1.3 trillion. Adding value to that production, through financial investment, will be key to delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, access to finance is an important issue. The Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) commissioned this scoping paper to assess what might be done to improve access to finance. Organisation of forest and farm producers allows finance to be channelled toward valueadded investments. But the motivation to form forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) varies with context, from the desire to secure resource rights for Indigenous peoples in the forest core, to the desire to strengthen economic scale efficiencies in periurban forest product processing industries. The scale and type of finance needs vary and span enabling investments (grants or concessional loans)through to asset investments (market-rate capital that requires a return). Access to finance for FFPOs requires tailored approaches. For FFPOs, enabling investments in four key areas are needed to create the conditions and necessary track record to attract asset investment: (i) secure commercial rights; (ii) strong organisation for scale; (iii) appropriate technical extension; and (iv) fair market access and business incubation. Enabling investments of this sort make FFPO businesses bankable and affords them access to finance.