The DiFF team is pleased to announce the release of a report, The Financial Ecosystem for Smallholder Farming Households in Lao PDR. The report maps the financial ecosystem for smallholder farmers in Laos and makes recommendations for stakeholders to develop the ecosystem while mitigating risks.

Our recent qualitative fieldwork in Laos and Cambdia showed very different results in the two countries. In Laos, many farmers were using digital financial services, but in Cambodia they were not. Why the difference?

Between mid-October to mid-November, we did the first round of qualitative fieldwork in Laos to begin collecting data and exploring questions regarding discernible impacts of digital financial services on smallholder farmers. In this post we reflect on our process and initial observations.

We’re pleased to welcome you to Digital Finance and Farming (DiFF), a 5-year project investigating the impact of digital financial serivces on farming households and women.