Heifer International, Mastercard partner to empower millions of smallholder farmers in Africa
Heifer International, a global non-profit organisation, and Mastercard have announced a partnership to connect millions of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa to Mastercard's Community Pass.
Accordingly, the innovative solution will make it safer and easier for farmers to get paid more and faster for their produce.
Under the partnership, Heifer International and Mastercard will focus on advancing digitalisation and financial inclusion among smallholder farmers in Africa.
The partnership supports Heifer International’s objective of leveraging technology and innovation to accelerate Africa towards a digitally dominant agriculture sector with strong value chain networks that create sustainable living income and stability for smallholder farmers and farming communities through access to finance, access to markets, and partnerships.
Speaking at the partnership launch on Friday, Adesuwa Ifedi, Senior Vice President for Africa Programs, Heifer International said the collaboration is in line with their goal to increase living incomes for 6 million smallholder farmers by 2030, through transformation of Africa’s agriculture.
“This is why our collaboration with Mastercard is crucial to ensure smallholder farmers are financially included, removing some of the barriers that keep them unbanked and perceived as high risk by traditional financial institutions,” Ifedi said.
He reiterated Heifer’s commitment to ensuring that smallholder farmers have the right resources and support required to thrive by leveraging innovation and key partnerships.
“We firmly believe that smallholder farmers play a foremost role in ensuring the continent’s agricultural food resilience and self-sufficiency,” Ifedi stated.
On his part, Daniel Huba, the vice president Sub-Saharan Africa, Humanitarian and Development, Mastercard said, “We are energised and honoured to collaborate with Heifer International to bring an ecosystem for greater efficiency and effectiveness to their work with smallholder farmers, enabling safe, simple, smart, and commercially sustainable digital solutions for remote and marginalised communities in Africa,”
Mastercard Community Pass is designed to address infrastructure challenges that arise in digitizing rural communities, such as unreliable connectivity, low smartphone ownership, and lack of consistent identification or credentials.
Community Pass provides farmer visibility through simple and affordable issuance and acceptance infrastructure that enables digital transactions and creates a farmer digital presence that will then enable Heifer International to better reach and serve them.
