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Case Studies | June 12, 2011

Harnessing the Power of Savings and Lending Communities to Drive Agroenterprise Development in Ghana

Cracking the Nut Conference: Overcoming Obstacles to Rural and Agricultural Finance

For smallholder farmers in Ghana, limited access to agricultural finance and quality agriculture extension support are the two most binding constraints to achieving increased production and productivity. The farmers also struggle to find reliable and qualified agricultural extension support. This paper highlights an innovative strategy used by CRS to mobilize partners into small groups in order to improve their access to finance for agricultural investment through savings and internal lending communities (SILC) and enhance the outreach of extension officers without increasing their workload.

CONTENTS

  • Background

  • Program Description

  • Integrating savings-led microfinance with agricultural extension

  • What is SILC and how does it operate?

  • Results to date

  • Promising practices

  • Successes

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