Given the scarce access to financial services among the rural poor and the importance of agriculture as a critical livelihood activity, agricultural finance is a key focus area for AKAM. Several of AKAM's institutions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, have significant rural outreach and agriculture portfolios, but the unmet demand is still vast. Where there are sister agencies, AKAM's entities collaborate to help increase the farmers’ yield. PAMF Madagascar's focus is to expand outreach in rural areas where the microfinance penetration rate is extremely low – currently at around 3.5 percent – and where poverty is high. Consequently, 62 percent of its loans are rural. Although agriculture is a mainstay of the economy, employing 80 percent of the population, access to agricultural finance is low, particularly among PAMF-Mada's focus areas of Sofia and Itasy.