UNU- FLORES 30d ago

Our Doctoral Researcher, Vaibhav Aggarwal, recently published a paper entitled “Financial Inclusion for Smallholders: Integrating a Resource Nexus Approach Into Agricultural Finance Systems” together with Prof. Edeltraud Guenther and Dr. Matthias Walz. Financial inclusion of smallholder farmers is a global challenge that leaves the vast majority of farmers in the Global South excluded from the formal financial system. This emerges partially because of a lack of information to the farmers, but mostly because of our lack of understanding of the agricultural finance system. Their new publication on the Financial inclusion of smallholder farmers applies systems thinking, along with the Resource Nexus approach, to recombine fragmented knowledge and create a holistic picture of the agricultural finance system. It highlights that siloed approaches in this regard may provide short-term remedies, but in the long run, they yield unintended consequences, including problems with access to finance for smallholder farmers. The study invites policymakers and practitioners to adopt an integrated approach to the agricultural finance system, considering farmers' environmental, social, economic, and cultural aspects alongside financial instruments. These should be by integrating technology, infrastructure availability, extension services, and institutional support. Read the full paper here: Financial Inclusion for Smallholders: Integrating a Resource Nexus Approach Into Agricultural Finance Systems #ResourceNexus