Original source : ICCO
ICCO investigated impact of COVID-19 on smallholder farmers in four African countries.
The research was done amongst smallholder farmers, producer organizations and microfinance institutions in STARS, one of their biggest programs, running in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Ethiopia. The farmers experience great difficulties in ensuring the quantity, quality and marketing (transport) of their produce. This results in less income and farmers defaulting on their loans. STARS works with microfinance institutions to better manage the quality of their agricultural lending portfolios and their liquidity, by supporting them to actively develop savings products and digital tools such as mobile banking; and by setting up risk management committees to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
