Performance of MMI Revolving Loan Fund

Since March 2018, FAO Bangladesh has been facilitating access to finance for smallholder farmers through the pilot project, ‘Increasing Access to Finance for Farmer Organizations’. The project is part of the Missing Middle Initiative (MMI) funded by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). The project is implemented in collaboration with the Sara Bangla Krishak Society (SBKS) – a national apex of 55 producers’ organizations (POs). The project develops the capacity of POs to access value chains, markets, technology, information and finance. As a result, the POs are now in a position to conduct collective activities, such as bulk buying inputs, bulk selling produce as well as operating of common facility centers and revolving loan funds. The project provides ongoing backstopping support for all of these activities.

As the report will show, revolving loan funds (RLFs) have been a successful way to facilitate access to finance for smallholder farmers. This access to finance has led to increased incomes and has also had many positive spill-over effects of benefit to the entire community.