Savings and credit for family farming in sub-Saharan Africa

An international workshop on financing rural development was held in Gitega, Burundi, in September 2023, organised by the Burundian association ADISCO with the support of Philea, IRED and the Platform for Food Sovereignty of member organisations of the Geneva Development Cooperation Federation.
Some forty participants involved in promoting savings and credit in rural areas from 8 countries in East and West Africa exchanged their approaches and methods and discussed ways of improving their actions.

The conclusions:

Family farms are the basis of food and cash crop farming in sub-Saharan Africa. Credit is an essential vehicle for eradicating poverty and ensuring the development of small-scale farming. In this respect, the experience of support organisations and village tontines is invaluable because it is full of lessons to be learned, but all too often they remain on a small scale. A number of institutions are banking on technology, banks and digital transfers to help them spread more widely. While new technologies can help, they cannot tackle the issues that fall within the remit of public policy and the State's commitment to supporting family farming and food sovereignty. Advocacy by support organisations is more necessary than ever. This message was clearly stated in Gitega. Follow-up actions are planned in the various countries from which the participants and their support organisations come.

Recommendations:

We, representatives of financial institutions and support organisations from countries in Central and West Africa, meeting in Gitega, Republic of Burundi, from 25 to 30 September 2023 for an international workshop on
on effective savings and credit mechanisms and institutions for the promotion of sustainable, agro-ecological and inclusive agriculture, convinced....