FAO concluded last week a training course on strategies of agribusiness promotion that was held in Khartoum from 1 – 4 November 2015. The course was organized by FAO in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture and Forests and the National Agency for Insurance and Finance the Exports (NAIFE).

The training course forms a part of FAO’s broader work to support an enabling environment in Sudan for agricultural development under Sudan’s National Agriculture Investment Plan (SDNAIP). The training covered diverse topics, including the importance of an enabling environment, value chain coordination and capacity development, and used case studies based on agribusiness in Africa. The training also introduced participants to a number of practical tools that can be used to assess agricultural investment opportunities and to develop risk mitigation strategies in order to realize these opportunities.  

There were 55 participants from both the private and public sector, which allowed for rich discussion on agribusiness and of stakeholder needs in the SDNAIP process. One key outcome that emerged from the training was a recommendation to establish an Agribusiness forum in order to continue public-private dialogue and collaboration on agribusiness development in Sudan.  

The National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP) is a five-year investment plan for Sudan that maps the investments and activities needed to achieve 6% annual growth for the agricultural sector by 2020. The Plan’s key objectives include: promotion of exports of crops and livestock, increase productivity and efficiency of Sudan’s agricultural sector; improve national food security and nutrition; reduce rural poverty by 50 percent by 2020 and generate job opportunities (especially for youth and women); encourage settlement in the rural areas to achieve balanced economic growth; and development and protection of natural resources to ensure its renewal and sustainability. The NAIP is a key component of Sudan’s participation in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a pan-African initiative signed by Sudan in 2013, which commits the country to increasing government spending on agriculture to 10% of GDP by 2020.

To learn more about FAO's work on agribusiness and support for agricultural development, please visit the following links:

Contract Farming Resource Centre

Publications by FAO's Rural Infrastructure and Agro-Industries (AGS) Division

Rural Finance and Investment Learning Centre