Innovation can help direct-to-farmer finance providers better serve farmers by addressing the challenges associated with direct-to-farmer lending. Existing challenges – such as lending risks and service delivery – are exacerbated at scale; investing in innovation can help direct-to-farmer finance providers scale up to more quickly and effectively meet the vast global demand for smallholder finance.

Through a collaborative research, design, and ideation process involving farmers, donors, finance providers, and more, Dalberg Design and the Initiative for Smallholder Finance has identified five opportunities for direct-to-farmer finance innovation. Each of the innovation spaces below suggests compelling new ways that direct-to-farmer finance providers can build off current experimentation in the sector to better serve smallholder farmers.