In this Issue

• Forthcoming events
• Training opportunities
• New in the library

From the Editors,

Agriculture remains an important activity for alleviating poverty, but shortage of finance can constrain its development. Identifying the financial needs of the various levels and actors of the agricultural value chain, offers an opportunity to increase the scope for and reduce the cost and risk associated with the financing of agriculture. It can also help value chains to be more inclusive, by making resources available from within the chain to smallholders to enable them to integrate into higher levels of the chain. A new publication “Agricultural Value Chain Finance – tools and lessons” provides a comprehensive look at the models, tools and approaches used by industry leaders in all parts of the developing world. The book includes 40 industry examples and five comprehensive case studies to enrich the learning.

We would also like to flag The World Bank publication on Agribusiness and Innovation Systems in Africa. The objective of the country reports on Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda that it contains is to shed light on the dynamics of agricultural innovation, and the impact of public policies and institutions on innovation and value chains. The publication sets out to do so by focusing on agribusiness and by taking the agricultural innovation system concept as the overarching analytical framework. It discusses the major findings of the country reports, links common themes, and distils lessons learned with the aim of informing governments, farmers’ organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), research institutes, and donors.

Lastly, we would like to inform our readers about the Carsey Institute’s Sustainable Microenterprise and Development Program (SMDP). The program provides training and networking opportunities for practitioners in the fields of microfinance, enterprise development, social enterprise, community based and rural development. The SMDP has designed a curriculum, from 31 May to 12 June 2010, that offers five learning tracks: Introduction to Microfinance, Microfinance Advanced Skills, ProPoor Enterprise Development, Youth-Inclusive Financial Services, Sustainable Microfinance and Sustainable Planet. The deadline for registration is May 14th 2010.

Best regards,
The RFLC editorial team