Smallholder farmers are vital to economic development and addressing food insecurity and sustainability challenges in developing countries, yet they face significant hurdles in obtaining credit and remain largely excluded from formal financial systems.

To help close the smallholder financing gap, ADB, IFAD and other partners are developing a cutting-edge toolkit to serve as a springboard for action for policymakers and financial service providers. This toolkit provides comprehensive guidance on designing systems and credit products to increase access to finance for smallholder farmers, including legal and regulatory frameworks that address financing barriers.

Within the context of the broader agrifinance ecosystem, this session will explore how legal solutions can bridge the smallholder finance gap by:

1. developing enabling regulatory ecosystems that incentivize extending credit to smallholder farmers;
2. leveraging blended finance to de-risk agricultural investments;
3. creating legal structures for digital finance to integrate farmers into formal financial systems;
4. standardizing contract models to improve access to finance; and
5. aligning policies with practice to ensure sustainable and scalable agrifinance solutions.

By showcasing insights from the ADB, IFAD, and other international partners, this session will outline a practical roadmap to unlock agrifinance for smallholder farmers.

Speakers:

Thomas Clark, General Counsel, Asian Development Bank

Marek Dubovec, Director of Law Reform Programs, International Law Institute

Dil Rahut, Vice-Chair of Research and Senior Research Fellow, Asian Development Bank Institute

Adam Struve, Global Lead, Agriculture Commodities, Global Agribusiness and Forestry Practices, International Finance Corporation

Anna Veneziano, Deputy Secretary General, International Institute for the Unification of Private Law

Moderator:

Katherine Meighan, Chief Legal and Governance Officer, International Fund for Agriculture

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