Asia in 2020: Faster and better financing

Access to sales markets, good agricultural resources, and the knowledge needed to grow high-quality products: for many smallholder farmers in Asia, these factors can’t be taken for granted. Especially not during the coronavirus pandemic. Together with our partners, Rabo Foundation is starting to change all that.

How we work in Asia

In Asia, our activities center on enhancing access to finance, knowledge, network and innovation for smallholder farmers. We do this by partnering up with like-minded intermediaries such as microfinancing institutions and savings and loans cooperatives. But also with producer organizations, small to medium enterprises, as well as start-ups that are active in the food, agriculture and aquaculture sector.

We invest in organizations and key value chain actors that work directly with farmers. In India we mainly support ag(fin)tech startups, banks and non-banking financial companies that work with smallholder farmers. With the help of our loans and knowledge, they can finance more smallholder farmers or support them with technical assistance and agricultural resources. In other Asian countries like Indonesia, we invest in small and medium enterprises and cooperatives located in remote locations that are often overlooked by conventional finance providers. In 2020, in Asia, we provided a total of € 10.9 million in loans, guarantees, technical assistance, trade finance and grants.

In most Asian countries we work together with local teams of consultants who speak the language and know the customs. In India, our colleagues from Rabobank India also help out Rabo Foundation. Our local teams play a key role in amplifying our reach in the region. As an international organization we recognize and respect the importance of cultivating deep understanding of the local culture, customs and context of our target groups. This year, they saw first-hand the influence that the coronavirus control measures and climate change have had, and they were able to advise on the best approach for their own region.

Continent Asia - focus countries Rabo Foundation

Results Asia

7 countries

we are active in Cambodia, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

€ 11.0 million

we provided in the form of loans, trade finance, guarantees, technical assistance and grants.

87

producer cooperatives, financial service providers and SMEs in Food & Agri were thus given the opportunity to start or scale up their operations. And, by doing so, strengthen the position of smallholder farmers.