July 2011: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group has issued a call for projects to increase the commercial potential of small and medium-sized agri-businesses and farmers by bringing them into the local, national and global value chains.

Following commitments by Group of 8 (G8) leaders at the L’Aquila Summit in Italy, in July 2009, and reaffirmed by the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Pittsburgh, PA, US, in September 2009, the World Bank established the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) Program in April 2010. GAFSP is composed of two windows, a public sector window (administered by a Coordination Unit housed in the World Bank) and a private sector window (administered by a Secretariat housed in the IFC).

This call for projects is the first effort to identify opportunities to supply financing for investment and advisory programs for small farmers and small and medium enterprises that typically have difficulty attracting commercial financing.

As of 1 July 2011, approximately US$48 million is available in the GAFSP Private Sector Window Trust Fund, which may be used by projects with additional resources likely to be available throughout 2011 and 2012. Proposals are being sought from private companies operating in the agribusiness, food, and beverage value chains and may include: agricultural input and service providers; farmer cooperatives; agricultural commodity traders, processors, related infrastructure and logistics providers; and financial institutions and intermediaries, such as banks lending to the agribusiness sector or private equity funds investing in the sector.

A total of 60 countries, mostly in Africa, including Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS), are eligible to participate. [IFC Press Release] [Eligibility Criteria]