Agriculture and agribusinesses have continued to attract attention given the sector’s developmental potential, particularly for African economies. With the sector’s growing potential, attention is being placed on addressing the financing challenges across the value chain. Agriculture, from farm to production, processing, and distribution, is currently organized into value chains and coordinated among the actors in the agricultural process flow.

Financing agricultural businesses is profitable, but unlike other businesses, agriculture is unique in its characteristics, practice, and financing methodology. Moreover, the recent effects of climate change, weather variations, and disruptions in the global distribution chain heightened the perceived risks. These contemporary changes make agricultural financing complex, and the lack of skills in dealing with these issues has led to the extreme caution exercised by most financial institutions.

Therefore, this course will help the participants understand these challenging issues and retool their skills to be successful in agriculture lending, smart agriculture, and the application of technology in agribusiness finance. In addition, the participants will improve their skills in agricultural business appraisal along the value chain, understand climate issues in agricultural finance, and learn how to deal with de-risking the business.