One third of AccessBank's micro-business loans are extended to farmers. The portfolio of this segment has grown quickly and performed well. Why is Access-Bank Azerbaijan successful in agricultural lending, a sector often disliked by other commercial banks? And why is the bank viewing farmers as a strategic core clientele? This case study aims to give some answers and explore some of the myths around agricultural lending. 1 Greenfield Small Business Bank in a Transitional Economy AccessBank was founded in 2002 by international development finance institutions together with a technical partner. 3 It was created to provide a broad range of financial services for micro and small enterprises, and low and middle-income households, sectors that were largely ignored by Azerbaijan's banking sector at the start of the decade. In the intervening years, the bank has grown rapidly into the leading microfinance provider in Azerbaijan, both in terms of numbers of credit and deposit customers, and in terms of credit volume, as well as in terms of range and quality of banking services. At the same time, AccessBank has also developed into one of the leading banks in the country: As of

Investments in agriculture, particularly in smallholder agriculture in developing countries, are regarded as critical for meeting the food demands of a growing world population. 3 Improvements in agricultural finance, mainly in providing investment credit to farmers, are widely regarded as an important approach to stimulate production. 4 While this is certainly true, it is only part of the story. Agriculture-related physical and market infrastructure have been widely neglected in the discussion despite their immense relevance for making food available in developing countries-and as a precondition for farmers to produce at all. In this chapter, we describe the investment and financing needs of every step in the food production and distribution chain: from farm to fork, from pasture to plate, or from barnyard to belly. Take your pick. 1 Commercialisation of Farming as an Opportunity The global economic framework for agricultural production has changed significantly in recent years. Most importantly, after decades of stagnating commodity prices, prices for agricultural produce, processed as well as non-processed, have significantly increased and are expected to increase further. Population growth and increased demand for high-value food products-particularly in the big emerging markets-are the underlying factors that indicate a continuing challenge. 5 This

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