Rwandan farmers are set to benefit from a partnership between Clinton Foundation and Visa, a global payments technology company which will enable them conduct business transactions digitally.

The partnership by the two entities will connect individual farmers and cooperatives with financial institutions, retailers, processers, buyers and other producers consequently creating a digital payments ecosystem.

These connections aim at helping improve farmers’ financial security and empower them economically to make purchases with greater knowledge and ease.

The partnership announced Tuesday by the Clinton Foundation will consist of a two phase programme beginning with a pilot phase in Kayonza and Gatsibo Districts in the Eastern Province.

The support will involve engaging cooperatives in financial literacy training and access to Visa products through which they will receive and make value-chain payments.

"This will enable Clinton Development Initiative (CDI) and Visa to learn how to best understand the deeply felt and unmet needs of the farmers, which will inform scale-up efforts in the second phase. Coupled with in-depth impact analysis, the pilot will help lay the foundation on which CDI and Visa roll-out the most fitting financial services to CDI’s farmer network in Rwanda,” the foundation announced.

The partnership will use a smallholder farmer training and market access programme for farmers to adapt to digital payments to increase their money management and business skills while establishing a strong foundation for economic development.

The development will be built on projects that are currently being implemented by the Foundation in the country allowing farmers to compete favourably in markets.

Walker Morris, the Clinton Development Initiative chief executive officer said over the years the foundation has been working to empower farmers in the country by trying to improve their yields and profitability.

"We work to empower farmers in Rwanda by giving them the knowledge and resources to improve their yields, improve their profitability and improve their livelihoods. This new offering with Visa will improve the financial stability and security of these farmers. Farmers will have the resources and training to take advantage of digital payments, connecting them to Rwanda’s growing economy,” Morris said.

The initiative seeks to tackle the challenge of lack of access to working capital and getting paid for their harvests in time.

Stephen Kehoe, Senior Vice President for Global Financial Inclusion at Visa said that their partnership would address the challenges by digitising payments and educating farmers.

"The main barrier to increasing the yield of individual farmers is lack of access to working capital. A secondary concern is making sure they get paid more quickly for their harvests. We think we can solve both sides of this equation, if we both digitise the payment process and educate farmers, which is what this partnership with CDI is designed to achieve,” Kehoe said.

This partnership will seek to make use of Visa’s development of a broader payment landscape as well as its partnership with banks in Rwanda and beyond.

The Clinton Foundation’s work in Rwanda have been keen on integrating commercial farms and other agribusinesses with smallholder outreach to increase smallholder farmers’ access to local markets and enable them to participate equitably in those markets.

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