NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

IFC and BMZ, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, launched a new program today that will leverage greater private sector investments to support the food production value chain across Africa and increase access to finance for rural farmers and businesses.

The Euro 21 million Food Systems Development Program, focuses on giving food producers, ranging from smallholder farmers to small and medium-sized agri-businesses in Africa, greater opportunities to improve their incomes. IFC’s technical assistance will strengthen agricultural value chains from farm to market.

Supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 crisis have highlighted weaknesses in the food supply system and created an opportunity to explore technology-based solutions that will make the sector more efficient, adaptive, and resilient. Meanwhile, global demand for food will grow by 50 percent by 2030 due to population growth and dietary shifts. This could exacerbate food insecurity for some countries if no action is taken. African countries, in particular, are at high risk of facing severe food insecurity by 2030.