Investing in post-harvest handling (PHH) technologies

21 January 2015. To increase access to financial services in the rural parts of 24 sub-Saharan African countries, Master Card Foundation recently launched a fund for rural prosperity. The challenge fund worth 50 million US dollars will support innovative ideas that can be budding as well as have a social impact. Joining CNBC Africa to discuss more about the fund as well as inadequate access to financial services which poses a risk to a country's economic growth is Ann Miles, director for financial inclusion, MasterCard Foundation.

Village Capital, in partnership with MasterCard Foundation and Duncan Goldie-Scot, has announced the launch of its accelerator program, Village Capital FinTech for Agriculture: East Africa 2015.The program will select 12 start-up firms for business development training. The aim is to unlock innovations that increase access to financial services for smallholder farmers. Applications can be submitted via this link and will be
accepted through February 25, 2015.

Related:
5 November 2015. A new, US$15.5 million programme promotes investments in post-harvest handling (PHH) technologies and access to storage facilities to help uplift farmers from poverty in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. It involves a partnership between Kenya-headquartered Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and The MasterCard Foundation in Canada.

• Through small and medium enterprises, farmers will gain access to cold storage facilities, cleaning and drying machines and licensed warehouses as well as processing technologies such as cassava chippers [and] graters.
• A partnership was formed with PHH solutions providers such as cocoons and metal silos manufacturers and distributors to address post-harvest issues resulting from Tanzania bumper harvest.
• The five-year partnership will have AGRA as a grant-making institution to stakeholders such as agricultural value chain actors for capacity building and development and implementation of effective, robust and low-cost information and communication technology (ICT)-based delivery mechanisms.

“We believe that making it possible for smallholder farmers and small to medium-sized enterprises to access credit, savings, and insurance services, and helping them connect to strong market value chains, is critical to driving transformation of the agricultural sector in Africa,” Ann Miles, director of financial inclusion at The MasterCard Foundation