Agribusiness and Food Security

Investments in agriculture are critical to reducing poverty and boosting food security. Strengthening agriculture and food systems has the potential to improve the lives of millions of farmers and presents tremendous opportunities for people along the value chain, from farmers to consumers.

Investments in agriculture are critical to reducing poverty and boosting food security. Strengthening agriculture and food systems has the potential to improve the lives of millions of farmers and presents tremendous opportunities for people along the value chain, from farmers to consumers.

Agribusiness is diverse and complex, and a successful value chain requires the entire system to perform. But in many countries, the sector faces significant challenges, including resource scarcity, extreme weather, and access to finance. IFC is uniquely positioned to lead in agribusiness investment with its private and blended finance solutions, as well as advisory services tailored to the needs of large and small businesses.  

Blended finance allows IFC to support projects in the agricultural sector that may not attract commercial funding due to perceived high risks in this sector. It also allows for the provision of affordable funding with less demanding terms, which allows IFC to invest in early stage or riskier projects that hold high potential for development impact and financial sustainability.

IFC’s strategic objectives for agribusiness are guided by improving food security and driving economic development and inclusiveness. We continue to focus on climate-smart investments and creating market initiatives, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program Private Sector Window

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) Private Sector Window uses blended finance solutions and concessional funding to support projects designed to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers living in the world’s poorest countries. Investing across the entire food supply chain, from farm inputs to logistics and storage, to processing and financing, the GAFSP Private Sector Window specializes in early-stage agribusiness projects with a high potential for development impact.

GAFSP supports and demonstrates new and innovative financing aimed at increasing the commercial potential of small and medium sized agri-businesses and smallholder farmers by bringing them into the local, national, and global value chain.   It also supports sustainable agriculture in developing countries and provides a demonstration effect for other financiers to increase investment and financing of the agri-sector in International Development Association (IDA) countries.

In addition to its investment support, GAFSP deploys advisory funds to strengthen potential investment clients and increase the complementarity between GAFSP Public Sector Window and Private Sector Window projects and activities. Through IFC’s Advisory Services, GAFSP helps raise capacity building by providing on-the-ground training and advice for businesses and farmers in improving farmer productivity, strengthening standards, reducing risks and mitigating climate change effects.

Impact includes:

• Every $1 of Private Sector Window funding leverages roughly $6.5 of private sector funding
• 95 investment projects in 30 countries, deploying $518 million
• 113 advisory projects in 36 countries, deploying $58 million

GAFSP Private Sector Window is supported by the following development partners: Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The Canada Facility for Resilient Food Systems (FRFS)

IFC and the Government of Canada have partnered to address market gaps that create food insecurity. The Canada Facility for Resilient Food Systems (FRFS), established in 2023, focuses on key strategic pillars for agribusiness including food security and nutrition; inclusive development; and sustainability and climate as business drivers. The facility supports projects aligned to IFC’s Global Food Security Platform (GFSP), a $6 billion financing facility to strengthen the private sector's ability to respond to  food insecurity and help support food production, in both lower and middle income countries. FRFS includes a focus on crosscutting priorities such as climate-smart agriculture and agtech, gender, and nutrition, with support open to both investment and advisory projects.

Core focus areas include:

• Increasing efficient crop production
• Improving access to fertilizers (including organic)
• Greening fertilizer production and use
• Reducing crop loss and food waste and improving supply chain efficiency
• Efficient wholesaling and retailing
• Mitigating infrastructure bottlenecks critical to efficient food supply
• Mitigating the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine / promoting Ukraine’s resilience

FRFS has seen record utilization since its inception with four impactful investment commitments and four gender relevant advisory projects. With concessional support from FRFS, IFC has supported a large and impactful food security project in Ukraine, the first and the only flour mill in Sierra Leone, financed a project in DRC for wheat import substitution and in Cameroon supported local production of yogurt, a low-cost protein-rich nutritious food to base of pyramid consumers in a country with high inflation and 1/4th of the population living in extreme poverty. FRFS is also supporting IFC’s Global Food Safety and Food Loss Prevention platform. 

Inclusive Agritech Facility

The Inclusive Agritech Facility (IAF) aims to de-risk IFC’s early-stage equity investments in agriculture technology (agritech) companies in India, Nepal and Bangladesh and aims to develop solutions for smallholder farmers by investing in private sector-led agriculture technology and business models that have the potential to be deployed at scale.

The facility, which was launched in 2018 with support from the Gates Foundation, helps demonstrate investment models that successfully balance sector risks, commercial success and impact goals, with the potential to attract additional sources of investment capital. It also strengthens the partnership between the foundation and IFC, capitalizing on the shared vision of achieving inclusive agricultural transformation and the complementary strengths of agriculture teams in the two organizations.

IFC’s equity investment of up to US$12M in Omnivore Agritech & Climate Sustainability Fund 3 (“Omnivore III”) a closed-end venture capital (VC) fund domiciled in India was supported by $4.6m FLG from IAF.  Omnivore is a leading global agritech fund manager, benefiting from a broad network which gives it insight into business models and technologies in other regions, especially ones where smallholder farming predominate. The fund focuses on agritech and foodtech sub-sectors: Farmer Platforms & Fintech; Precision Agriculture; B2B Agri Marketplaces; Farm to Consumer (F2C) Brands; Agrifood Life Sciences; and Post Harvest Technologies. As of 2024 end, the fund had reached roughly $200m in commitments, which speaks to IFC’s mobilizing power. Through this innovative BF facility, Gates Foundation has supported investments in companies in alternate biomaterials, molded fiber products to transition from single-use plastics, rural insurance distribution platform, full stack dairy platform, circular fodder ecosystem, AI powered spot spray technology, supply chain and agri processing platforms, among others.