For the smallholder farmer and other micro and small business entrepreneurs to truly compete in a market driven agricultural sector they need to be able to supply produce to the end market as efficiently as possible; access to financial support is a common key constraint to allowing that to happen. IDE, with the support of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), is working to explore and implement partnership options that will provide smallholders and other agricultural micro and small business operators with financial credit that they can use to invest in and grow their respective businesses.

Potential financial support options include services provided by actors who buy and sell from each other in a chain or by stand-alone service providers. While this RPI project component focuses on access to credit, the need for other financial products and services will not be ignored. However, financial support provision needs to be accessible, simple, continual and complete; in other words, provided commercially or by markets; a key underlying principle of IDE's RPI intervention strategies.