FAO and EBRD mark new milestone in 27-year cooperation
©© FAO/Victor Sokolowicz
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) signed their 200th project recently – a milestone in a fruitful 27-year partnership that has evolved with the times.
The newest project focusing on digital learning and knowledge transfer in Ukraine will provide learning opportunities on livestock best practices through AgriAcademy, a digital education app designed for agribusinesses in the country.
For nearly three decades, the two partners have sought to make agrifood systems more sustainable through responsible private sector investment, policy dialogue and sectoral technical assistance in EBRD’s economies of operation.
Originally working in Eastern and Central Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, the EBRD broadened its operational coverage in 2012 to include the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean and is now looking towards sub-Saharan Africa.
Natalia Zhukova, EBRD Director of Agribusiness, reflected on the winning combination of EBRD’s investment capacity and expertise and FAO’s technical, analytical and policy skills.
“Over the years, we have worked together with FAO to make agribusiness value chains, such as grains, olive oil, horticulture and tea, just to name a few, more sustainable, inclusive and resilient,” she said. “And we’re proud of our ability to respond swiftly to major challenges, from global food security to climate change.”
FAO Investment Centre Director Mohamed Manssouri echoed that thought. “Tackling the challenges and shocks agrifood systems face today calls for tailored and scalable investment and finance solutions, and above all strong partnerships,” he said. “We look forward to strengthening our cooperation with the EBRD even further and accompanying them as they move into new areas of work and regions.”
Reflecting back
Developing financial instruments – like grain warehouse receipts and crop receipts that help farmers access finance by using crops as collateral – was one of the partners’ first joint assignments.
Over the years, the two institutions have brought public and private stakeholders together to resolve policy issues specific to unlocking private sector investments in selected agrifood value chains – work that continues in many countries today.
Public-private dialogues in Egypt, for example, were key to improving the efficiency of the country’s wheat sector, prompting regulatory changes and creating an environment more conducive to trade and private sector investment.
FAO and the EBRD launched two significant technical cooperation packages in recent years. Through a USD 3.85 million initiative, the partners helped agribusinesses tackle COVID-19 disruptions. Examples of that varied work included a new e-learning course for the deployment of biosecurity standards in the olive oil industry, as well as livestock and dairy, and the promotion of e-commerce and shorter food supply chains.
With the war on Ukraine threatening global food security, EBRD and FAO unveiled a USD 5.5 million project in late 2022 to support food import-dependent Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region. The package focuses on food security policies, better market transparency, diversification of both food imports and exports, improved import efficiency and sustainable local production.
Another key area of work over time involves improving food safety and quality along supply chains and developing origin-based labels for local food products. One recent example is in Georgia where the public and private sectors worked together to secure geographic indications for cheeses unique to the country and to facilitate their access to markets.
A wider effort supported the development of a sustainable tourism industry in the country to celebrate Georgia’s rich food heritage, with a similar experience currently being promoted in Jordan.
And ahead
The race is on to transform agrifood systems – both a cause and casualty of climate change – to be more environmentally sustainable and climate friendly.
FAO and the EBRD began working on environmental projects as far back as 2002, with the design of the EBRD’s first-ever Global Environment Fund project to reduce agricultural pollution along the Danube basin in Slovenia.
Since then, the Bank has launched its Green Economic Transition approach to increase the volume of its green financing, with a focus on reducing carbon emissions. The partners published a detailed study – Carbon neutrality: Utopia or the new green wave? – on trends, challenges and opportunities for decarbonizing agrifood systems and presented initial findings at the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow in 2021.
As Iride Ceccacci, Head of Agribusiness Advisory commented on the partnership, “Greening agrifood systems will be at the heart of future cooperation.”
She added that “FAO has helped the EBRD shape its overall priorities, providing technical inputs on the upcoming EBRD Food and Agribusiness strategy 2024-2028, with FAO co-organizing a consultation workshop in Rome as part of this work.”
More than 50 experts from agribusiness companies, civil society, development institutions and other Rome-based UN agencies shared insights on how the strategy can contribute to greener, more inclusive agrifood systems. Discussions zeroed in on a variety of options, from integrating nature-based solutions into the EBRD’s business model and promoting low carbon livestock and dairy sector investments to incentivizing innovation and financing small and medium enterprises.
Agtivate, the partners’ new platform for sharing knowledge on sustainable agrifood investment in the Bank’s countries of operation, has all this information and more. Organized around the broad themes of food security, green agrifood systems, social inclusion, digital agriculture and the COVID-19 response, Agtivate features innovations, interviews with industry experts and lessons learnt from the partners’ collaboration.
As the FAO Investment Centre celebrates 60 years, it is worth reflecting that for nearly 30 years and counting, FAO’s partnership with the EBRD has gone from strength to strength in their shared aspiration to change people’s lives for the better.
