DLEC Webinar: Key Insights from

Landscape Analysis

July 2020

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ISF is an advisory team for the development of financial solutions
serving the rural enterprise market

ISF is an advisory group committed to transforming rural economies by delivering partnerships and
investment structures that promote financial inclusion for rural enterprises and smallholder farmers
ISF’s primary role is to act as a “design catalyst.” The emphasis is on mobilizing additional financing for
rural enterprises and seeding replication of innovative models
ISF’s activities are backed by deep research into critical issues affecting smallholder finance

Recent ISF
publications

Our research can be found at https://isfadvisors.org/research/

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We identified two topics from our landscape analysis to share today:
1) commercial advisory models and 2) climate-smart advisory
Key definitions
• Advisory services:
knowledge, tools, and
market linkage
• Commercially sustainable
model: advisory services
model that covers its cost
through revenues
• Climate-smart agriculture:
interventions that
contribute to productivity,
adaptation, and/or
mitigation of climate
impacts
Topics for discussion today
1 Commercially sustainable advisory services
models
Emerging commercial models face challenges in a
highly subsidized market, but also offer the
opportunity to deliver effective, efficient, and
sustainable advisory services to farmers
2 Integration of climate-smart agriculture into
advisory services models
Advisory services is key to achieving climate-smart
agriculture goals; however, commercial advisory
services face challenges to integrating climate-smart
agriculture into their models
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1 Commercially sustainable advisory services models

Advisory services have typically been delivered by government,

NGO, and supply chain models; commercial models are emerging

Typology of AS models

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Public Donor- Supply Comple- Holistic Focused Specialized
extension subsidized chain mentary service service service
services service advisory delivery provider provider
delivery services
models

Social impact Indirect business Direct business

mission case for AS case for AS
Overwhelming majority of advisory
Significant scale of investment and
services in terms of market size Emerging and relatively nascent segment
reach; smaller than models 1 and 2
and number of farmers reached

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1 Commercially sustainable advisory services models

Commercial advisory services models have the potential to deliver

advisory services in an effective, efficient, and sustainable way
The potential of commercial advisory services models
Commercial
models are not
the solution for
the entire
market; other
models can be
better for serving
Effectiveness & certain farmer
Efficiency Sustainability
accountability segments,
achieving social
Close alignment Specialized Sustainable and environmental
with interests of advisory models revenue stream outcomes, or
farmers creating that can deliver allows for long- capturing synergies
accountability services on behalf term delivery of between advisory
mechanisms of governments, services and other business
NGOs, businesses activities

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1 Commercially sustainable advisory services models

Commercial advisory services models face challenges to scaling

their businesses

Challenges Examples of models navigating

these challenges:
1 Difficulty generating B2C revenues
Partnerships with MNOs
reduce costs to scale and
2 Difficulty generating B2B revenues barriers to B2C

3 High costs to setting up and

scaling advisory services models Broad set of services
creates strong value
proposition
4 Lack of complementary services

5 Competition against subsidized Specialization in delivery

markets of advisory services opens
up B2B, B2D, and B2G
opportunities

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2 Integration of climate-smart agriculture into advisory services models

Advisory services are an important way to provide farmers with

tools to adopt climate-smart technologies and practices

Climate-smart agriculture is Advisory services play a key

increasingly important for role in adoption of climate-
farmers smart practices

Smallholder farmers are uniquely Training and information was

vulnerable to the impacts of identified as a barrier to
climate shocks and often not adoption of 89% of climate-
well-equipped to adapt to smart technologies in agriculture
climate impacts by CIAT

Note: Images are from Marufish and IITA through Creative Commons
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2 Integration of climate-smart agriculture into advisory services models

Advisory services models face challenges to integrating climate-

smart agriculture and rarely do so

Challenges Opportunities to better integrate

climate-smart agriculture:
1 Limited demand from farmers /
businesses
• Additional investors: demonstrate the
value of advisory services to meet
2 Difficulty communicating the link
climate-smart agriculture goals to
between advisory services and
align with climate-oriented investors
climate outcomes

3 Difficulty translating impacts to

mitigation-related services
4 Limited ecosystem support for
commercial providers to develop
climate-smart advisory services
• Additional B2B revenue streams:
demonstrate the value of climate-
smart advisory to businesses to
generate B2B revenue

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What could the future of advisory services market look like with
further development of commercial models?

Current state

Most advisory services are free or subsidized

REE
F

Limited choice of farmers among advisory services

providers

Climate-smart agriculture rarely explicitly integrated

into models

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What could the future of advisory services market look like with
further development of commercial models?

Vision

Targeted public and development spending on advisory

services

Farmers have more access, choice, and affordability of

services and providers

Evidence for value of advisory services and climate-smart

agriculture is clear and translated into sustainable models

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