ALIDE present at 6th Annual Plenary Session of SAFIN
- The meeting was held as a hybrid event in Morelia, Mexico prior to the 7th World Congress on Rural & Agricultural Finance.
November 22, 2022- Prior to the 7th World Congress on Rural & Agricultural Finance, the Latin American Association of Development Financing Institutions (ALIDE) participated in the 6th Annual Plenary Meeting of SAFIN, which brings together members of the network in order to share information about forthcoming projects and discuss present and future agri-SME financing.
In the course of the event, Lorna Grace, IFAD senior regional technical specialist in rural financial markets and value chains explained the importance of agri-SMEs in value chains and stated emphatically that IFAD had approved 249 projects for these sectors.
AFEX Commodities Exchange CEO, Ayodeji Balogun, for his part, warned that the next crisis will be precipitated by climate change. “We should continue to support the rural agricultural world, for it is the smallholders who will be the most strongly affected and could slide into poverty,” he stressed.
At the same time, it was suggested at this hybrid meeting held in Morelia, Mexico, that the FIRA members should focus their efforts on green finance as a means for providing carbon credits, which would serve as a significant aid to small farmers.
During the two-day event, emphasis was placed on the importance of supporting farmers and agri-SMEs and on taking action to stem the food crisis engendered by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
What is SAFIN?
Frank Rubio, SAFIN senior coordinator, explained that the Smallholder and Agri-SME Finance and Investment Network (SAFIN) is an IFAD initiative that contributes to agri-food and small and medium rural enterprise investment, mainly in the areas of access to financing and complementary services.
Today this network consists of more than thirty member institutions, one of which is ALIDE. The SAFIN members recognize that smallholders and other rural SMEs play an important role as investors in rural economies and inclusive and sustainable food systems.
About ALIDE
ALIDE is the community of financial institutions that produce banking solutions for Latin American and Caribbean development. Founded in 1968, its main purpose is to contribute to the region’s economic and social development by promoting the use of good development finance practices among its members. It is comprised of more than 80 member institutions operating in over 20 countries of Latin America and other regions of the world.
Contact
Communnication Unit of ALIDE
Phone: +511-203-5520 |: Ext: 227
comunicaciones@alide.org, comunicaciones2@alide.org
www.alide.org