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

This webinar presents the results of an Expert Consultation to Financial Service Providers (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. 

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?