Expert Consultation with Financial Service Providers: Understanding the sustainability issues agricultural producers need to consider to be investment-ready and access finance

This report presents the results of an expert consultation with 51 financial service providers (FSPs) to identify the sustainability and business criteria agricultural producers in developing countries must meet to be 'investment-ready'. The findings highlight a strong preference among investors for economic and governance factors over social and environmental ones when assessing financial risk.

• Financial service providers (FSPs) prioritize economic themes over environmental and social themes for reducing the financial risk of agricultural investments. Among these, governance and business management are the highest priorities, followed by climate change.
• The four most critical economic criteria for reducing financial risk and ensuring economic impact are management experience and performance, information on existing buyers, proof of ownership of property (or concession/land-use rights), and projected cash flows.
• Within the environmental dimension, climate change adaptation measures are viewed as more important for reducing financial risk than mitigation measures, with 65% and 47% of FSPs respectively assigning them 'high importance'.
• FSPs show a relative lack of awareness regarding the financial risk implications of biodiversity, forest, and soil conservation, with only 27%, 42%, and 43% of respondents respectively marking these as 'high importance'.
• Gender-specific measures are the most important sub-theme within the social dimension for reducing financial risk, though only 42% of FSPs consider this highly important, indicating a need for more gender-lens integration in investment decisions.
• Agricultural producers in developing countries face a massive financing gap; the estimated annual demand for smallholder farmer financing is USD 240 billion, while the supply from formal and informal FSPs is only approximately USD 70 million.
• The report suggests that Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSSs) can act as risk-mitigating tools by requiring producers to comply with economic, social, and environmental criteria that align with FSP requirements.
• Lack of legally registered land titles is a major barrier to accessing finance, affecting 70% of the global population and disproportionately impacting women.

APA

Nugnes, F., & Larrea, C. (2020). Expert Consultation with Financial Service Providers: Understanding the sustainability issues agricultural producers need to consider to be investment-ready and access finance. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/financial-service-providers-agricultural-producers.pdf

Chicago

Nugnes, Francesca, and Cristina Larrea. Expert Consultation with Financial Service Providers: Understanding the sustainability issues agricultural producers need to consider to be investment-ready and access finance. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/financial-service-providers-agricultural-producers.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nugnes |first1=Francesca |last2=Larrea |first2=Cristina |title=Expert Consultation with Financial Service Providers: Understanding the sustainability issues agricultural producers need to consider to be investment-ready and access finance |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=March 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/financial-service-providers-agricultural-producers.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nugnes2020expert, author = {Nugnes, Francesca and Larrea, Cristina}, title = {{Expert Consultation with Financial Service Providers: Understanding the sustainability issues agricultural producers need to consider to be investment-ready and access finance}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/financial-service-providers-agricultural-producers.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }