COVID-19 and Investments in Agriculture - Latina America and the Caribbean

Funding and investment opportunities for agrifood SMEs are scarce, especially in developing countries, due to the perceived risks of the agricultural sector, coupled with the lack of capacity of financial institutions and private investors to assess profitable business opportunities within agribusiness markets. 

The new pandemic threat from COVID-19 is making these challenges even more pronounced and financial markets are likely to further decrease confidence and limit credit opportunities for agri-food SMEs. In addition, disruptions to the microfinance institutions (MFIs) sector could lead to reducing food security through damaging economic resilience in the short to medium term; decrease agricultural output in the upcoming production seasons; and lower the potential for microfinance to support economic growth.  

However, the pandemic imposes the agri-food industry to rethink its modus operandi, creating opportunities for private investments to pursue a transformation of food systems towards an economic, social and environmental sustainability.

This webinar on COVID-19 and investments in agriculture Challenges and opportunities for investing in sustainable food systems in Latina America and the Caribbean, organized by the FAO Technical Network on Sustainable Food Value Chains - Development & Finance (SFVC D&F) with the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (FAORLC), is intended to serve as a roundtable among different actors from the supply and demand side for financial services, who will interact and mutually share their perceived bottlenecks, experiences and innovative practices to cope, respond and react to the pandemic. The panel will include speakers providing different views and experiences on issues related to COVID-19 and agri investments in the region. These include representatives from:

• FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
• GAWA Capital, Impact investor
• FACES, MFI from Ecuador
• Agri-food SME served by the MFI

The event will be moderated by Massimo Pera, Agribusiness Officer, Food Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF) of FAO/SFVC D&F TN Coordinator.