The Grow Asia Digital Learning Series (DLS) has made a return in 2025 with its first session on February 12th. In collaboration with Visa, the session explored the transformative role of digital finance, technological innovation, and practical solutions in agriculture. DLS is part of the regional GrowVentures Impact Fund, supported by IFAD, the Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Visa, and Thai Wah. DLS provides a platform for sharing insights and scaling digital solutions that make a real impact on smallholder farmers.
Key Insights from the Session
Agriculture remains a cornerstone of global food security, making it essential to enhance productivity among farmers. A significant part of this effort involves ensuring farmers have access to regulated financial services, which can support their economic stability and long-term growth. Digital payment solutions are at the forefront of this transformation.
As Isvary Sivalingam, Southeast Asia Lead, Better than Cash Alliance noted during the session, "We find that digital payments or solutions could potentially scale both access and use, provided that they are designed in the right way."
With well-designed solutions, smallholder farmers can unlock new financial opportunities and strengthen their businesses.
Beyond facilitating transactions, digital payments also serve as a gateway to financial products such as credit, insurance, savings, and pension plans. These services are crucial for farmers, particularly in building resilience against risks like climate change and market fluctuations.
Ravi Iyer, Head of Asia Pacific Pre-Sales, Visa, highlighted the importance of integrating data-driven solutions in this regard, stating, “Digital finance fundamentally revolves around several key elements: digital methods for onboarding and engagement, risk management through crop insurance and data insights, transparent transaction data, and the development of credit scores. These features collectively safeguard and benefit both farmers and financial institutions.”
Data collected through digital payments can help financial institutions assess risk more effectively, reduce costs, and expand financial services to more farmers. This is particularly relevant in markets where cash transactions dominate. For example, in Indonesia's cocoa sector alone, cash transactions amount to approximately $706 million annually, illustrating the vast opportunities for digitization.
However, digital finance adoption does not happen in isolation. Smallholder farmers require hands-on support to navigate these new financial tools effectively. Boots-on-the-ground engagement is essential to ensure successful integration into daily agricultural activities.
Manfred Borer, Chief Executive Officer, Koltiva, emphasized this point, stating, "For fintech solutions to be truly effective in supply chains, costs must be shared among multiple stakeholders to finance on-the-ground operations. These extensions create real impact by educating farmers on responsible e-wallet use, driving adoption that strengthens rural economies and enhances supply chain resilience."
Another crucial aspect discussed was financial equality, particularly for women and young farmers who often struggle to access financial services. Digital payment solutions can help bridge this gap by offering tailored products that consider the unique challenges these groups face. Meanwhile, sustainable and certified value chains are becoming increasingly important for companies, with digital payments playing a key role in ensuring transparency and traceability.
Credit access remains a major challenge for smallholder farmers, particularly in Indonesia’s cocoa sector. The session highlighted the urgent need for financial products tailored to smallholders' specific needs.
Renan Santiago, Head of MSME, Maya shared insights from his experience in driving digital funding adoption, noting, "Over the last two years, we have driven the adoption of digital funding, enabling merchants—especially those in rural areas—to access loans from the comfort of their homes. This is crucial for farmers who previously had limited access to banking services."
For digital financial services to scale successfully, governments play a vital role in creating an enabling environment. Policies supporting low-cost payment channels, consumer protection, and financial literacy initiatives can help smallholder farmers transition from cash-based transactions to digital platforms. Trust-building is fundamental in this process, as farmers need to feel secure in using digital financial tools while being protected from risks such as fraud and exploitation.
Overall, the ongoing need to bridge the gap between technology and farmers is extremely crucial. While digital tools hold immense potential, their impact depends on the capacity-building efforts that accompany them. Ensuring digital literacy, addressing infrastructure limitations, and fostering an enabling environment are essential steps in this process. Additionally, the importance of trust—particularly in transitioning from cash-based to digital transactions. Farmers, as well as SMEs along the value chain, must feel protected and confident in using digital financial services, which requires safeguards against fraud and exploitation.
Hence, innovative solutions are needed to assess creditworthiness, especially for smallholder farmers who lack formal financial records. Alternative data sources and financial models can help these farmers establish credit histories, ultimately enabling them to transition from small-scale growers to entrepreneurs and business owners. By addressing these challenges, the digital finance ecosystem can drive real, long-term benefits across the agricultural value chain. As digital finance continues to evolve, initiatives like DLS will remain critical in driving financial inclusion and empowering smallholder farmers. Stay tuned for upcoming sessions as we continue to explore innovative solutions & conversations that are transforming the food & agriculture ecosystem.