Scaling Financial Inclusion for Women Farmers Through Climate-Smart Agriculture

Smallholder farmers feed a third of the world’s population, yet women farmers—who produce up to 70% of Africa’s food—receive less than 10% of agricultural credit. Traditional microfinance models often fail to address gender-specific barriers like land ownership restrictions, lack of collateral, and limited access to climate-smart inputs.
• This session disrupts the conventional approach by exploring a holistic, community-led financing model that integrates:
Flexible, non-extractive financial products that recognize farming cycles
• Agritech-driven solutions—affordable organic inputs, precision farming, and soil health monitoring
• Market-access partnerships connecting women farmers directly to buyers
• Risk-sharing mechanisms between financial institutions, impact investors, and local cooperatives