Status update — April 27, 2019

Cyclone Idai, which hit southeastern Africa last month, affected some of iDE Mozambique’s operations. Cyclone Idai was one of the worst tropical cyclones to hit the continent and left over 1,000 dead and thousands missing. iDE Mozambique spent the last month evaluating the impact the cyclone had on the livelihoods and businesses of their clients. They found that more than 50% of their clients have been negatively affected by the cyclone and some have lost more than 90% of their crops. Eight of these clients are Kiva borrowers and we therefore anticipate delays in repayments as these clients restart their businesses. We thank you for your understanding and patience as these borrowers rebuild their livelihoods and work toward making repayments on their Kiva loans.

Partner Description:

iDE is an international non-profit organization dedicated to creating income and livelihood opportunities for the rural poor. iDE currently operates in 11 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In addition to Mozambique, Kiva also partners with iDE in Cambodia. Their focus is to enhance smallholder farmers’ productivity by increasing their access to agricultural technologies, market information and credit.
 
Many farmers living in remote locations often can’t be reached by agricultural suppliers. iDE seeks to change this by working with farmers to help them become farmer business advisors who are responsible for delivering high quality agricultural technology to other farmers. They assist farmers and agrodealers in selling and delivering their products, and also provide technical advice. The goal is that a community of farmer business advisors  and agrodealers will be self-sustaining and their expertise can influence the market in the area.
 
A unique lending approach:

iDE will provide credit and capital asset loans to the farmer business advisors and agrodealers. These farmers will use this funding to purchase agricultural technology from agrodealers and then sell and deliver this technology to farmers. Funding from Kiva lenders will help iDE grow the number of people who can participate in this program. iDE is committed to providing financing to the advisors and would love to also build partnerships with local microfinance institutions.