INTEGRATED COMPANY REPORT 2014 - GIZ. Solutions that work.

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Food security | More than 800 million people worldwide
go hungry. The main reason is poverty. They cannot afford
to buy food. Many small farmers in developing countries
produce little more than they need to feed their own fami-
lies – leaving them trapped in a vicious circle of poverty and
hunger. This is where the German Food Partnership (GFP)
comes in. Founded in 2012 under the auspices of the
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ), the GFP aims to raise the income of
small farmers and improve their nutritional status by foster-
ing market-oriented and sustainable agricultural production.
To this end, the GFP pools the expertise and financial
resources of some 35 businesses in the agriculture and food
sector that are willing to align their own business interests
with development concerns. Participating companies include
industry giants like Bayer and BASF, but also smaller com-
panies such as Grimme, Europlant and Solana. By signing
up for the GFP, member companies demonstrate their com-
mitment to clear social, environmental and development
standards. On behalf of BMZ, GIZ coordinates the activi-
ties of the GFP, including rice projects in Africa and Asia
and a project to promote potato farming in Africa.
Under the transnational rice project in Thailand, Viet
Nam, Indonesia and the Philippines, the GFP is collaborat-
ing closely with government agricultural extension services
to support training for farmers in
soil management and fertility,
sowing, irrigation, environmen-
tally sound pest control and fertili-
sation. This gives small farmers an insight
into the broad range of modern production methods, after
which they are free to decide for themselves which method
is best suited to their own needs. They also acquire a funda-
mental understanding of business management and market-
ing, and learn to establish long-term business relations (for
example with rice millers and traders) to enable them to
negotiate fair market prices.
Under the motto ‘From the field to the plate’ the GFP
projects embrace the entire value chain: consumers, traders,
processers and small farmers. This approach raises the value
added in the producer countries and makes them less depen-
dent on world market prices. At the same time it guarantees
sufficient supplies of high quality and affordable food for
poorer sections of the population.
The first three GFP projects in Asia and Africa are
worth a total of just under EUR 30 million. GFP projects
are reaching about 150,000 small farmers, helping them
increase incomes and improve their nutritional status. //
// Worldwide
Contact: //
150,000
small farmers have already
improved their nutri-
tional status.
Public financial governance | China aims to put its economy
on track for more sustainable growth in order to steadily
raise the level of prosperity enjoyed by the Chinese people.
Public budgets will have to tap new sources of income if
they are to be able to step up targeted investment. Possible
options are discussed by the participants of the Sino-Ger-
man talks on financial policy matters. GIZ has been organ-
ising this dialogue on behalf of the German Federal Minis-
try of Finance since 2012. The meetings are attended by
representatives of China’s and Germany’s finance ministries
and of the relevant parliamentary committees and authori-
ties from both countries. They discuss, for instance, ways of
forecasting tax revenues, the correct use of funds within
China’s budget system, subsidy policy and new financing
options for provincial government along the lines of Germa-
ny’s federal states. A value-added tax based on the German
model is already being piloted in some sectors in China. The
Sino-German dialogue is already delivering results. The
reform of China’s budget legislation adopted at the start of
January 2015 incorporates some of the points discussed,
including mid-term financial planning methods and the
management of state assets. //
More revenue to invest
// China
Contact:
Financial systems | Only about 12 per cent of adults in
Mozambique have a bank account. In rural areas in particu-
lar bank branches are few and far between, and many of the
people who live there have so little money that they are not
considered to be attractive customers. To escape this
dilemma, up to 170,000 Mozambicans have so far become
involved in informal savings and loan groups. These lend
successfully to small and micro-businesses within their
group. The greatest risk, however, is that the cash reserves
they keep in tin boxes may be stolen – a frequent occur-
rence. The money would be safer in a bank. This is where
the non-governmental organisation Kukula comes in. GIZ
development worker Reinhard Gless works for Kukula as
part of the BMZ-commissioned ProEcon programme. Gless
advises the NGO’s savings and loan groups on how to open
a savings account for their cash reserves, which sometimes
exceed EUR 10,000. To this end, he introduces bank repre-
sentatives to the savings and loan groups. Parallel to this he
explains how telephone banking works. When the nearest
bank branch is far away this can be an attractive way to pay
the next electricity bill. Within the first nine months of the
GIZ development worker’s assignment, about 900 people
gained access to bank accounts, 80 per cent of them women.
GIZ’s advisory services also benefitted the banks, since small
customers in sufficient numbers also increase banks’ turn-
over and profits. //
// Mozambique
Financing opportunities
Contact:
Shoulder to shoulder against
poverty and hunger
GIZ Integrated Company Report 2014 28 29 Business and financial systems development