27 August 2018: The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) have created a strategic alliance aimed at raising up to US$100 million in five years to catalyze agriculture sector investments to promote food security, sustainable agriculture and rural development.

With an initial financial contribution of up to US$15 million by the two institutions, the partnership seeks to enhance the quality and impact of investment in the food security, nutrition, social protection, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural development sectors.

During the signing ceremony at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva noted that leveraging investments in agriculture, including from the private sector, is key to lift millions of people in Africa out of hunger and poverty and to ensure that enough rural jobs are created for the continent’s growing population.

AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina described the agreement, which builds on the two Agencies’ longstanding partnership, as a “milestone moment” that will help achieve the Bank’s vision of “making agriculture a business.” The AfDB ‘Feed Africa’ strategy, launched in 2015, aims to invest US$24 billion into African agriculture over a ten-year period.

Leveraging investments in agriculture, including from the private sector, is key to lift millions of people in Africa out of hunger and poverty.

Under the strengthened partnership, AfDB and FAO aim to jointly contribute to, inter alia: better and more effective Bank-financed investment operations; increased public-private partnership (PPP) investments; a better investment climate and portfolio performance; and advocacy and joint resources mobilization. FAO will provide technical assistance in areas such as sustainable agricultural intensification and diversification, the blue economy, scaling up of value chain innovations, youth in agriculture and agribusiness, agricultural statistics, food safety and standards, and capacity building for transition states.

Advocacy and policy-related activities will draw on international policy tools, such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests and the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, both of which have been endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security.

Since 1968, FAO has provided technical assistance to the formulation of 161 AfDB-financed projects, valued at over $3.7 billion, which represents about 21% of the Bank’s support to the agricultural sector. The partners have also jointly contributed to a series of continental dialogues on post-harvest loss reduction, and the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative. [FAO Press Release] [AfDB Press Release]