More than 2.5 billion of the world’s poor rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Helping these smallholder farmers gain access to better products and inputs, such as micro-drip irrigation systems, drought-resistant hybrid seeds and asset-backed micro-loans, has the potential to improve their lives permanently. Because when farmers grow more food and earn more income, they are better able to provide for their families, send their children to school and invest in improving their farms. Little will happen, however, unless pioneer firms—the entrepreneurial companies responsible for developing and delivering those innovations—are able to find new, effective ways to profitably serve these hard-to-reach customers at scale.

Growing Prosperity: Developing Repeatable Models® to Scale the Adoption of Agricultural Innovations represents an important step forward. Written in partnership with Bain & Company and with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the new report features forewords by Paul Polman of Unilever, Jacqueline Novogratz of Acumen and Chris Elias of the Gates Foundation.
Based on extensive research conducted in five countries across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, including interviews with more than 300 smallholder farmers, Growing Prosperity proposes how companies can “get smart about scale” while giving their customers the access they need to the right products and services at the right time to help pull them out of poverty.

File Name: growingprosperity-agriculture-report