Agenda

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Session 1:
Response to the New Global Scenario: Agricultural Development and Sustainable and Inclusive food Systems

As a result of the Covid crisis and the current global tensions, the international economic situation with the prospect of going into a recession and the most recent political events has caused a sharp increase in the price of agricultural products and fuels, levels of inflation that are too high for what was expected, hitting hard low-income, mainly urban, families. Moreover, these better prices do not necessarily translate into better incomes and improved well-being for producers from small-scale family agriculture. The agricultural and rural sector has emerged as a strategic sector for countries, and an important one from the point of view of social and environmental sustainability. Thus, the international organizations oriented toward this sector, pertaining to financing or not, express their concerns regarding improvement in productivity, with sustainable food systems, and the improvement of the well-being or benefits of the smaller ones. Therefore, in this session, we shall share the vision of these organizations, their strategies and support programs, their relationship with the national public and private financial institutions –banks, guarantee entities, among others–, in order to boost the development and modernization of the sector on sustainable foundations.

Session 2:
Technological Innovations for Agricultural Financing in Latin America and Mexico

This session focuses on the development and initiatives of technological and financial solutions in Latin America. The scope is regional due to the experience of some speakers but there is also an emphasis on Mexico because national experts are included. Financing, technology and insurance is the framework of the panel.

Session 3:
Financing Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in LAC: Role of National Public Development Banks

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, reported in 2019 that there were more than 16.5 million farm holdings throughout the region and eight out of ten of these holdings were part of family agriculture, and that 60 million women and men were working in family farming; that is, close to 1 in 11 people is intimately linked to this sector, where the highest rates of poverty are still concentrated. Two types of agricultural units coexist in the region: large or medium-sized and small-scale agriculture. The financing system and the channeling of financial resources by financial institutions differ between countries. There is no uniform approach in all of them. Consequently, in this session we shall try to show different agricultural and rural financing systems, and, given its characteristics and the nature of the agricultural-livestock and rural sector, with the objective of knowing the actions of development banks in support of the sector during the crisis and their technological modernization; and finding out how they are doing to achieve at the same time multiple outcomes, and a healthy and growing agricultural production, while reducing the carbon footprint of the food system on the planet and ensuring the preservation of our precious natural ecosystems, considering that it accounts for a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, especially through deforestation and loss of biodiversity; reducing poverty and inequality in the sector with respect to the country as a whole.

Session 4:
Seafood Value Chain Finance in Africa: Scaling Up the Blue Economy

The issue of sustainable development has gained ground in development circles and the need for more inclusive growth has highlighted the importance of the blue economy as complementary to green growth. The importance of the oceans is not limited to the wide array of biodiversity and ecosystems. Rather, it extends to the food chains and livelihoods, especially for the coastal populations. Micro, small-and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) active in agriculture value chains often have challenges to access financial services. For MSMEs in seafood value chains these challenges may even be more daunting than those other agricultural value chains. Risks in the seafood business are often high, as seafood is highly perishable, catches are uncertain. Fishing at sea is one of the most risky occupations, and in aquaculture fish diseases and water pollution can affect production and trade. Many MSMEs are constrained in their development and innovation due to limited access to financial services. The introduction of production technologies, implementation of value addition processes, risk management measures, product traceability tools, meeting certification requirements, implementation of marketing and promotion plans, and digital payment tools, all require financing. The purpose of this panel is seafood value chain finance vs. agriculture value chain finance: differences and commonalities; how financial service providers can increase their services to the seafood value chains; share experiences of the Fish4ACP project supported value chain finance strategies development in Africa; promote CAFI SSF Network collaboration in developing financial products that enable small-scale fishers and fish farmers worldwide to increase their contribution to the Blue Economy.

Session 5:
Green inclusive Finance as a Critical Trigger to Sustainable Agriculture & Food System

In recent years, collaboration among actors has been growing, new solutions have emerged, and interest in the green finance agenda has gained momentum among financial institutions, investors, governments and international agencies. However, a large gap remains between needs and action. This thematic session will build on the experiences of the financial institutions in the region on their efforts and the current state of green and climate finance for agriculture. A brief discussion on the challenges, key drivers of change and examples of innovative solutions is also expected. The expert panelist will also touch upon some of the key areas of technical and policy interventions required to underpin the importance of green and climate finance in building resilience to agri-food sector. This session is expected to provide suitable answers to some of the questions raised in different forums which includes:

a) How can we better align finance with sustainability and integrate climate related risks in agrifood system and opportunities into decisions that drive lending, long-term investments, and insurance?
b) How can policies be designed to capture the “triple dividend” through supporting financial mechanisms that contribute to: (i) reduce risks of future losses; (ii) increase productivity, drive innovation through greater adaptation; and (iii) lead to improved social and environmental conditions?

Session 6:
Guarantee Systems as Drivers of Agricultural-Livestock Financing

The acceptance of the fact that one of the main limiting factors for access to financing, and in adequate conditions for small producers, is the lack of guarantees, has been favoring the extension of guaranteed systems and the integration into the financial systems of a large number of countries in the world. However, although these systems have advanced much in the MSME sector, they have not reached the same level of depth in the agricultural sector. Nonetheless, there are many relevant experiences in the world and in Latin America that are worth showcasing. In this sense, the objective of these sessions is to learn about, and exchange experiences on, how these models have been developed, such as what specific measures have been used to support the sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, what innovative products have been developed to favor the modernization of the sector and the adoption of new disruptive technologies, particularly in small-scale agriculture. We shall seek to have a global vision of the different guaranteed systems in different regions of the world.