Blog
Posted on July 1, 2024
Republished with permission from Future of Fish
Future of Fish and partners are excited to announce their collaboration with Caja Sullana to launch the Artisanal Fisher Development Fund (the Fund), a pilot loan guarantee fund to facilitate access to credit to support formalization, sustainable practices and financial inclusion amongst Peru´s artisanal fishing sector.
The Fund aims to facilitate access to credit for working capital loans through aggregated purchase programs of Coops for inputs such as gas, ice, oil, and other fishing essentials the savings of which will be passed on to fisher members supporting reduced operational costs and increased profit margins. Presently, some Coops are mobilizing members’ monthly contributions to purchase inputs like oil and giant squid fishing jigs. Loans from Caja Sullana, and other financial institutions, will complement these efforts with the aim of providing a wider range of inputs to fishers at more competitive prices. Working with Coops enables financial institutions to reach a vast number of fishers while reducing origination costs and mitigating individual risks. By the same token, strengthening artisanal fishers’ Coops increases their agency and governance capacity thus enhancing their ability to make sound business decisions that support responsible fishing and local socio economic development. Aggregated purchase services provided by Coops increase members’ loyalty and incentivize them to continue contributing to growing the members’ fund thus creating a virtuous circle of Coop capitalization and reduced dependence on external sources of finance.
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Posted on June 25, 2024
Republished with permission from Future of Fish
Future of Fish is excited to announce the launch of the Artisanal Fisher Development Fund (the Fund), a pilot loan guarantee fund to facilitate access to credit to support formalization, sustainable practices and financial inclusion amongst Peru´s artisanal fishing sector .
The informal economy in Peru is estimated to make up more than 40% of the country’s GDP and its presence is widespread amongst artisanal fisheries. As in many communities dependent on wild capture fisheries, this lack of formality prevents most fishers, vessel owners, and coops/associations from accessing the formal market and necessary financing to improve their businesses. Many of these fishers instead are reliant on informal money lenders who lock them into “debt-trap” conditions which, in turn, perpetuates the need to fish more to pay off their debts – thus exacerbating overfishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU). This dependency means that breaking off existing relationships with informal lenders to pursue new, formal financing sources can present significant risks to fishers. Compounding this risk, even when choosing a path to formalization, a newly formalized business will not be able to access formal credit due to their lack of commercial track record, credit history and adequate collateral. Given these challenges, transitioning from the informal to formal economy presents significant risks that many are unable or fearful to take given the risks to the activities that support their livelihoods.
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Posted on June 10, 2024
By S M Sehgal Foundation
“The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer”
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of Poetry
Laser land levelling. Photo: Sehgal Foundation
This aphorism, published in 1840, may seem outdated in a twenty-first-century world driven by digitization and artificial intelligence. However, despite technological advancements, significant opportunities for growth remain. An Oxfam report on inequality in India highlights that 5 percent of Indians now own over 60 percent of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50 percent possess only 3 percent. With 65 percent of the population residing in rural areas, a focus on rural development is crucial for balanced and inclusive progress. Efforts to address rural poverty show promising results. For instance, a study by the State Bank of India revealed a decline in rural poverty from 25.7 percent in 2011–12 to 7.2 percent in 2022–23. Despite this progress, millions remain in poverty, underscoring the need for continued focus on sustainable development.
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