Numerous microfinance initiatives around the world aim to alleviate poverty in developing countries. However, debate persists about their effectiveness and sustainability - a concern for transnational corporations and the international business community, which contribute about $9.4 billion to...

This study identifies ways in which Africa can realize its potential to secure a supply of food for affordable and healthy diets through the sustainable use of its own resources. The focus is on investment, cooperation, and policy action. The agenda proposed here is intended to be a long-term...

This report is part of an ongoing annual series of reports on Fixing the Business of Food initiated and actively supported by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN). The report is the product of a team including BCFN, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) at Columbia...

Rain-index insurance is strongly advocated in many parts of the developing world to help farmers coping with climatic risk that prevails in (semi-)arid rangelands due to low and highly uncertain rainfall. We present a modeling analysis of how the availability of rain-index insurance affects the...

The relationships between food systems, law, and the environment are strong. The ecological costs of modern industrial and large-scale food production are driven by greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizers and pesticides, and food miles, as well as agricultural law. Food choices contribute to the...

Low solvency and financial instability of agricultural enterprises in Russia cause the need to clarify, supplement and develop an effective system of measures and mechanisms to ensure the financial sustainability of agricultural enterprises. This includes the implementation of a system of...

Rain-index insurance is strongly advocated in many parts of the developing world to help farmers to cope with climatic risk that prevail in (semi-)arid rangelands due to low and highly uncertain rainfall. We present a modeling analysis of how the availability of rain-index insurance affects the...

Rural indebtedness and dependence on private moneylenders is an age-old problem in India. For more than 100 years now, the Central Government and the Reserve Bank of India have been making efforts to enhance institutional credit in rural areas particularly to assist in agricultural operations....

Globally, food systems have become heavily industrialized and are currently threatening both environmental sustainability and human health. Feeding a growing world while remaining within safe social-ecological planetary boundaries, as dictated by the UN Social Development Goals and the Paris...

We investigate if financial inclusion leads to improved nutrition in rural Rwanda, using Rwandan Integrated Household Living Conditions surveys (2013/14 and 2016/17). Our empirical evidence shows a robust positive impact of financial inclusion efforts undertaken by formal financial institutions,...