Recent research has revealed there is a race among commodity buyers to have the fastest speed of payment to the farmer.
However, technology alone is not enough, as the reality on the ground is that companies must also find ways to reach local communities, educate people to use — and trust — the system, find enough funds to implement the ideas while continuing to innovate, and ultimately achieve scale so the projects are sustainable in the long term.
During last week’s Fin4Ag 2014 conference on revolutionizing finance for agricultural value chains in Nairobi, Kenya, a number of participants shared lessons learned on how to apply market research into analyzing cash usage behavior patterns of farmers, form strategic alliances and better integrate their agriculture extension programming.