The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Works to Enable Sustainable Private Investment in Agri-Food Systems and Specific Value Chains

In developing countries, and particularly in Africa, farmers, processors and other actors in agri-food systems struggle to access the financial resources needed to accelerate progress toward the SDGs and to increase resilience to global shocks. There is growing recognition that overseas development assistance (ODA) will not meet the $2.5 trillion funding gap needed in developing countries, and that massive private-sector investments will be required. Against this background, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) deepened its work for attracting and de-risking private-sector investments in agri-food systems, targeting public and private agricultural value chains actors as well as private investors, and piloting its interventions in six African countries.

Part of this efforts has fallen under the FAO project “AgrInvest-Food systems” that for more three years has worked to foster SDG-aligned investments in agri-food systems in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya and Niger contributing to sustainable economic growth and boost rural employment, particularly for women and youths.