Environment and Urbanization · 2012 · 52 citations · 2 references
AgricultureAgricultural EconomicsUrban StudiesAgricultural DevelopmentAgricultural FinanceUrban FinanceAgricultural Finance PolicyAgricultural Production SystemsAgricultural SubsidiesAgricultural Value ChainsFarm FinanceUrban Food SystemsCrop FinancingFarm FinancingLocal Resource MobilizationPublic Agricultural FinanceSmallholder FarmersSmallholder Food ProductionUrban Food ProductionUrban Food Subsidies
For most small urban farmers, the lack of access to financing is a major bottleneck in their capacity to maintain and expand their activities, and more generally in the potential for scaling up affordable food production in cities. This paper reports on action research undertaken by local teams in 17 cities of different size in Latin America, Asia and Africa. In each city, the teams examined how urban farmers are financing their activities along the value chain, essentially with their own resources, what the gaps are between their needs and the existing practices of public and private institutions with regard to finance, and what mechanisms and innovations can help to close this gap. Financing is defined here as a complex, dynamic combination of resource mobilization, both monetary and non-monetary, plus savings, subsidies and credits.
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