Enhancing investment in food and agriculture in Africa hand in hand with the African Development Bank Group

The agreement, signed on 5th May 2024, gives a renewed momentum for deepening the technical support provided by the FAO Investment Centre to the African Development Bank Group’s Department of Agriculture and Agro-Industry and the Government counterparts. Teams from the Investment Centre will contribute to designing projects and programmes, preparing investment operations, supporting implementation, producing investment guidance notes and technical studies, among others.

In 2022-2023, the FAO Investment Centre had already supported five governments in the preparation of the Dakar 2 Food Summit, during which the Bank co-organized gatherings that drew some 34 heads of state, 70 government ministers, leaders from the private sector, farming associations and development partners who, with the Bank, committed more than $70 billion in support of Africa’s agricultural transformation. FAO Investment Centre’s experts provided technical support to prepare materials for the presentation of roadmaps towards Country Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts. The Compacts are national plans that aim to mobilize investments in tailored programs that boost local food production in participating countries.

Now the two partners are moving from these framing documents to designing high-quality investment operations financed by the African Development Bank and partners. The work will initially focus on agricultural investment operations in Transition States (countries that are facing significant challenges such as fragility, conflict, and instability), including South Sudan, Burundi, Somalia, Central African Republic, Chad and Democratic Republic of Congo, while responding to requests from other countries.

According to Mohamed Manssouri, Director of the FAO Investment Centre, this new agreement is a way of reinforcing the way FAO and AfDB had already been cooperating: “We have been long-term partners with the African Development Bank as we have been working together since 1967! Since then, the Investment Centre has supported the design of over 160 AfDB-financed projects for a total investment of almost USD 4 billion. With the new cooperation agreement, we aim to strengthen the relationship among our teams and are fully committed to make sure that these renewed efforts will take our partnership to new highs, which will benefit our African Member States.”

Mr. Martin Fregene, Director of Agriculture and Agro-Industry at the African Development Bank, said: “Our renewed partnership with the FAO Investment Centre will help our teams design high-quality operations, enhance the speed and quality of implementation as well as build national capacities in Transition States. This will accelerate the implementation and delivery of our Feed Africa Strategy for transforming African agriculture into a climate-resilient, inclusive and sustainable business-oriented and commercially-viable sector. This will in turn create economic opportunities for African women and youth, improve livelihoods as well as enhance food and nutrition security.”