Recommendations for "Finance (192 results)"
Improve transparency and accountability as to how AgR4D projects are funded, how they are monitored and how their impacts are measured, e.g., through an extended common reporting system.
2020
Enhance productivity through the promotion of social protection initiatives such as vocational training and other education schemes tailored to the technical needs of smallholder farmers and backed by national research, as well as extension systems that promote smallholder-friendly and smallholder-accessible technologies. At the same time, such interventions could be used to help smallholders without profit potential increase their access to nutritious foods in the short term and acquire non-farm skills and employment in the long term.
2013
Establish a vibrant rural financial system that includes a diverse mix of financial institutions and networks that work together to support innovation and rural access among smallholders.
2013
Strategically position the public spending portfolio to offer a short-term cushion for coping with livelihood shocks as well as long-term productivity-enhancing or exit opportunities for smallholders to escape poverty and food insecurity.
2013
National research systems need to prioritize the development of location-specific and smallholder-friendly technological innovations across the whole agricultural value chain.
2013
Sound evidence-based research, information systems and regulations at the national and global levels are needed to enhance the transparency of transactions and to understand the opportunities and threats for smallholders.
2013
Insurance tools that could potentially help farmers manage risks range from basic weather and agricultural insurance to more sophisticated hedging options such as futures contracts and loan-guarantee funds. Other innovative instruments include partial premium support (in conjunction with capacity-building efforts and regulatory reforms) and “insurance-for-work” schemes.
2013
Public investments should be directed toward providing essential public goods that have the highest economic and social returns, including rural infrastructure (especially rural roads) and agricultural research and development.
2013
Insurance schemes need to overcome the capital and credit constraints that limit smallholder demand for insurance, something that the current push for weather-based index insurance has been criticized for lacking.
2013
Avoid taxation of nutritious foods. Policy interventions that tend to depress prices of agricultural commodities not only reduce farmers’ incomes and incentives to produce, but also reduce the affordability of healthy diets for some of the most marginalized populations, the rural poor. Therefore, policies that penalize food and agricultural production (through direct or indirect taxation) should be avoided, as they tend to have adverse effects on the production of nutritious foods. Subsidy levels in the food and agriculture sectors should also be revisited, especially in low-income countries, to avoid taxation of nutritious foods.
2020
Understanding the challenges that arise from digital technologies and addressing the risks associated with their use require enhanced collaboration and consensus among all stakeholders, including governments, the private sector and the farmers themselves, to improve governance mechanisms.
2020
Solutions require increased partnerships, enhanced risk management capacities and multi-year, predictable large-scale funding of disaster risk reduction and management and climate change adaption policies, programmes and practices.
2018
Risk transfers can also help significantly reduce (though not fully eliminate) the negative impacts of climate variability and extremes. Recent innovative solutions of risk transfer, such as climate risk insurance and forecast-based financing, are helping to formally or informally shift the financial consequences of particular risks from one party to another, at the level of the household, community, enterprise or state.
2018
At the country level, well-established legislation, institutional structures, policies and plans can create an enabling environment to limit the impact of climate-related disasters and climate variability and build climate resilience. A mix of different tools – including regulation, fiscal instruments, investments in research and knowledge dissemination, support for market accessibility, improvements in infrastructure, and social protection – is seen as being more effective and sustainable in creating a pathway for climate resilience than a single intervention.
2018
Responsible investment should respect and not infringe on the human rights of others and address adverse human rights impacts. It should safeguard against dispossession of legitimate tenure rights and environmental damage. Responsible investment entails respect for gender equality, age, and non-discrimination and requires reliable, coherent and transparent law and regulations.
2014
Advance youth access to productive land, natural resources, inputs, productive tools, extension, advisory, and financial services, education, training, markets, information, and inclusion in decision-making.
2014
All financing institutions and other funding entities are encouraged to apply the Principles [CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems] when formulating their policies for loans and grants, in the articulation of country investment portfolios and in co-financing with other partners. They should take appropriate measures so that their support to investors does not lead to violations of human and legitimate tenure rights, and is in line with the Principles. The provision of finance allows these institutions a unique leveraging position where they can communicate with a broad range of stakeholders about their roles, responsibilities, and actions to facilitate implementation of the Principles.
2014
Financial institutions are encouraged to develop innovative financial mechanisms and insurance tools in support of investment in agriculture, especially appropriate solutions for smallholders, including those that are family farmers, that consider a long-term development perspective.
2014
Civil society organizations are also encouraged to collaborate with other stakeholders at all stages of investments to use the Principles [CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems], as well as to monitor and assess the impacts of responsible investment on agriculture and food systems.
2014
Appeal to financial institutions to develop innovative agriculture finance and risk management tools including responsible private-public partnerships better targeted on farmers’ needs.
2017
In order to foster investments in rural areas and in the agri-food sector, we encourage the exchange of best practices, including sustainable production methods, technology, workforce development, dissemination of information on financial tools and business opportunities, and the involvement of relevant stakeholders, including with countries with a high prevalence of food insecurity
2017
Develop appropriate financial instruments for the capital needs of farmers and rural enterprises and disseminate knowledge to improve the role of the farm sector in FVCs to strengthen the role of agriculture in the whole food chain, recognizing the joint responsibility of governments and businesses to foster sustainable FVCs and encourage best practices. Conduct fora to benchmark best-practices, exchange policy experiences on access to credit and facilitate responsible investments in agriculture and agribusiness, especially in developing countries, gathering all relevant stakeholders in an inclusive manner.
2016
Support the establishment, improvement and enforcement of legal, regulatory and social systems ensuring women’s equal rights and access to resources and productive assets including financial and extension services, including through ongoing initiatives such as the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
2016
Support the creation of decent employment opportunities with equitable economic returns for women in agriculture and food systems including selection, processing, distribution and sales of agricultural products, and equipping women with needed skills through vocational education and training. Increasing economic opportunities with higher and fair returns, both on- and off-farm.
2016
Support multi-stakeholder initiatives to raise new, notably domestic, investments, and encourage innovative financing for nutrition, while aligning investments with partner governments’ priorities, and strengthening donor coordination.
2016
Increase catalytic investments for food security, nutrition, and sustainable food systems and territorial development, as part of the substantial COVID-19 emergency funding and longer-term national recovery plans and packages, in a manner consistent with WTO obligations and taking into account the voluntary Committee on World Food Security (CFS) Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems.
2021
All relevant actors across the international financial architecture and financial ecosystem need to play a role, in line with respective mandates, in improving availability of and access to sustainable finance in the food and agriculture sector to effectively enable small scale and family farmers and fisherfolk, pastoralists, agro-enterprises, cooperatives and other operators within food value chains to invest more in sustainable food systems, particularly in developing and least developed countries.
2021
Public policies and resources such as procurement and public development banks’ funds can help to address market failures and provide greater risk tolerance than what other financial institutions can, thus also stimulating responsible private investment and blended finance.
2021
Support the implementation and the application of internationally accepted principles and good practices where appropriate, including Committee on World Food Security (CFS)- Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, CFS-Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, and OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains.
2019
Continue to support initiatives proactively, including through voluntary financial contributions, especially in those cases most in need, such as AMIS, as well as with timely and reliable information where so required, to ensure their continued work.
2019
Consider that continuous promotion of responsible agricultural investment plays an important role in improving sustainability of the agro-food sector.
2019
Strengthen access to financial systems, risk management instruments and output markets.
2018
Increase efforts to engage with the private sector in making the investments and developing the technologies and best practices needed to enhance productivity, efficiency and sustainability in food value chains.
2018
Promote responsible investment through the application of internationally accepted principles and good practices, including the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security and the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment adopted by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains among others, as appropriate for countries concerned, due to the contribution to economic and social development of farmers, particularly women smallholders and its potential multiplier effect in other sectors.
2018
Include a wide range of sectors and other stakeholders to engage in investment dialogue and welcome innovative cooperation modalities to promote responsible investment facilitation.
2018
Improve access to inclusive financial services, loans or credits, in particular for family farmers, smallholders and women, to boost sustainable agricultural production, including offering innovative financial products, promoting agricultural insurance scheme and risk management tools, and develop inclusive financial system for farmers.
2016
Support the improvement of the global environment for agricultural investment including through the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security and Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems endorsed by the CFS (CFS-RAI).
2016
Encourage private sector and other stakeholders to engage in investment dialogue and exchanges, broaden channels for agricultural investment and financing, and promote agricultural investment facilitation.
2016
Increase efforts to promote responsible investment in agriculture and food systems that lead to higher productivity, inclusive growth, poverty reduction and improved food security and nutrition and are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.
2015
Support the development of the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, both endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security.
2015
Support for responsible investment also requires an enabling environment including infrastructure and policies conducive to well-functioning markets, an open and rules based multilateral trading system, inclusive financial institutions, secure tenure of land, social protection, the management of risk and measures to limit the adverse impacts of excessive price volatility.
2015
Mechanisms and instruments are needed to promote responsible investment in agriculture and food systems.
2015
Responsible investment in sustainable and resilient food systems should increase productivity to expand food supplies and increase incomes and quality jobs in rural areas, especially for women and youth, reducing poverty and contribute to the G20’s inclusive growth agenda.
2015
Improve coordination among responsible government authorities for the identification and implementation of policies to promote responsible public and private investments in infrastructure, irrigation, protection of soils, open and transparent markets, technologies, knowledge sharing, rural services including financial services, extension and advisory services, social protection programs, health and safety at work, employment services and vocational training and education.
2015
In addition to public efforts, the private sector has an important role in making the investments and developing the technologies and good practices needed to enhance productivity, efficiency and sustainability in food value chains and efforts should be increased to engage with the private sector.
2015
Promote national enabling environments for investment including infrastructure and policies conducive to well-functioning markets, the integration of smallholders and women into those markets, inclusive financing institutions, secure tenure of land, social protection, the management of risk and measures to limit the adverse impacts of excessive price volatility.
2015
Utilize policy guidance, such as the voluntary Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in 2014 and the OECD policy framework for Investment in Agriculture as appropriate.
2015
Develop and support more robust climate finance mechanisms that really work and target small-scale food producers (e.g. farmers, livestock keepers, fishers, food processors).
2020
A financial mechanism supplemented by public and private contributions should be established to support the proposed multilateral agreement and the implementation of national FSN strategies and policies.
2020
Provide debt relief to governments struggling to maintain necessary social safety nets
2020
Invest in national smallholder investment strategies. Governments should design and implement medium- and long-term strategies, with the accompanying set of policies and budgets, to increase the capacity of the smallholder sector to fulfill its multi-functional roles in national development. These roles include contributing to growth, maintaining employment, reducing poverty, enhancing the sustainable management of natural resources and achieving food security. These National Smallholder Investment Strategies should be solidly grounded in participatory processes involving first and foremost the smallholder organizations and all concerned stakeholders.
2013
To support their investment efforts, smallholder farmers need adequate access to public goods on both the production and consumption sides of the household, with benefits reinforcing each other. On the production side, public investments are needed, for example, in water management facilities and soil conservation. On the consumption side, public investments are needed in health services, education, water and sanitation, and social protection. Gender-specific support services are needed to recognize the differential roles of household members in production, consumption and the reproduction of the family unit over time.
2013
Improve smallholder access to financial services adapted to their needs. This includes facilitating monetary transactions (such as mobile- phone based money transfers), safe savings deposits (with incentives to save), low-priced credit (such as through joint-liability group lending), and insurance (such as index-based weather insurance). Novel solutions are needed that reduce financial risks, lower transaction costs and facilitate long-term investments, for instance in technological innovations and soil fertility improvements in sub-Saharan Africa. Liquidity constraints must be relaxed not only on working capital expenditures (fertilizers, seeds), but also on medium- and long-term investments, supported by fair subsidy mechanisms.
2013
Upgrade and finance national research and extension systems targeted specifically to the needs of smallholders, with supporting financial mechanisms. The main objective would be to increase productivity and resilience through diversification of the production system with a high concern for the self-provision of diverse foods with a high nutritional value. Combining increased productivity and resilience will require a high level of investment in research to develop productive land-use systems with minimal ecological risk such that biodiversity may be used productively and conserved. Agricultural research and extension should support the in-situ and ex-situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity in the context of climate change. Agro-ecological approaches and production ecological principles may be instrumental. Smallholder farmers need appropriate seeds as well as machinery for field operation, food processing and other value-adding transformations. International collaboration and the sharing of experiences in technology development for smallholder farmers in different regions of the world should be promoted with a strong engagement, if not leadership, of smallholder organizations.
2013
Diversify sources of incomes. Smallholder households often need access to complementary sources of income in the rural non-farm economy. Successful rural non-farm employment in turn consolidates the farm economy, providing it with liquidity and risk-reduction that support on-farm investments. For this, investment must be made in support of the rural non-farm economy and the decentralization of economic activity towards rural areas. Investment must correspondingly be made in the qualifications of young people so that they can find employment either in modernized agriculture or in other related activities and labour markets. Territorial development can offer an effective platform to coordinate public and private investments in agriculture and in the regional non-farm economy.
2013
Rural financial system upgrading. Policy adjustments and direct support are required to develop improved and commercially viable financial products that can reach smallholders and other marginal groups. They include innovations in loan terms that are better adapted to the needs of agriculture than current microfinance practices, use of “aggregators” such as credit suppliers or commodity off-takers, and further support for development and uptake micro-level insurance.
2016
Donors need to contribute an additional USD 14 billion per year until 2030 to end hunger and double the incomes of small-scale producers. This is achieved while maintaining greenhouse gas emissions for agriculture below the commitments made in the Paris Agreement.
2020
Donors currently spend USD 12 billion per year on food security and nutrition and therefore need to double their contributions to meet the goals. However, ODA alone will not be enough. Additional public spending of USD 19 billion per year on average until 2030 will have to be provided by low- and middle-income countries through increased taxation.
2020
Additional public investment from donors and low- and middle-income countries will prevent 490 million people from experiencing hunger, double the incomes of 545 million small-scale producers and their families on average, and limit greenhouse gas emissions for agriculture to the commitments made in the Paris Agreement. The additional public spending will also spur an extra USD 52 billion in private investment per year on average in primary and processed food sectors from both small- and large-scale producers.
2020
Any delay in spending will not only have human costs but will also increase the total monetary costs. Early spending, on the other hand, allows investment in interventions that take more time—like research and development (R&D)—but have a bigger payoff. It also allows downstream (processing) and upstream (farm inputs) investments to be spread over time.
2020
Interventions provided directly to farmers, including farm inputs, R&D, improved livestock feed, and irrigation infrastructure.
2020
Increase financing for innovation and scaling of promising technologies
2019
Finance: Structure domestic and international financing to simultaneously support yield gains and natural ecosystem protection and/or restoration.
2019
Reduce food losses based on the objective of doing so, and on product group and value chain segment, by combining focused technical interventions with increased services for agrologistics, finance and training, bearing in mind that the evidence base is still shaky.
2021
Other public support to midstream SMEs includes financial incentives to comply with food safety standards and facilities to implement technical assistance programmes.
2021
Support youth entrepreneurship in both individual and collective enterprises through innovative social finance and resource distribution, including through the provision of mentorship, land and infrastructure sharing opportunities, and granting programmes.
2021
Promote the development and availability of affordable and inclusive financial services (direct funds, favourable interest rates, cash transfers, targeted subsidies, microcredit and other credit programmes, start-up capital, insurance) and advisory services (extension, training) tailored to the needs of young farmers and other own-account workers in food systems.
2021
Promote the development and availability of affordable and inclusive financial services (direct funds, favourable interest rates, cash transfers, targeted subsidies, microcredit and other credit programmes, start-up capital, insurance) and advisory services (extension, training) tailored to the needs of young farmers and other own-account workers in food systems.
2021
Provide support and insurance for community-based collective impact investment and cooperative and flexible financing programmes to support youth-led enterprises.
2021
Support youth entrepreneurship in both individual and collective enterprises through innovative social finance and resource distribution, including through the provision of mentorship, land and infrastructure sharing opportunities, and granting programmes.
2021
Promote the development and availability of affordable and inclusive financial services (direct funds, favourable interest rates, cash transfers, targeted subsidies, microcredit and other credit programmes, start-up capital, insurance) and advisory services (extension, training) tailored to the needs of young farmers and other own-account workers in food systems.
2021
Provide support and insurance for community-based collective impact investment and cooperative and flexible financing programmes to support youth-led enterprises.
2021
Align donor country investments with national pathways and other national plans and strategies to ensure a balanced coverage of national priorities across the investments of individual donors.
2022
Support the replenishment of international and regional financial institutions, ensuring attention to responsible investment in food systems transformation, and particularly to family farmers and smallholders.
2022
Renew collective efforts across donors, the financial sector, governments and development agencies/non-governmental organizations to provide the financial and business support services needed by the micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprise (MSME) sector.
2022
Encourage conscious efforts across all sectors to integrate the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems into investments and business practices.
2022
Invest in focused initiatives that support the particular financing needs of women and youth entrepreneurs.
2022
Support IT innovation focused on improving the finance and insurance needs of small-scale and vulnerable producers, including the scaling up of microinsurance schemes.
2022
Pilot innovative credit and insurance programmes that can increase stability in value chains and decrease vulnerability of individual producers and processors.
2022
De-risk investment by the MSME sector and market relations between larger firms and small-scale suppliers.
2022
Repurpose subsidies to ensure alignment with intended food systems outcomes and underlying principles.
2022
Support institutional innovation to improve access to finance and technology transfer.
2022
Support the development of innovative forms of insurance to reduce the vulnerability of farmers and MSME.
2022
Limited funding has to be used in an optimally enabling and mobilizing way.
2021
Given the central role of food systems to achieving all Sustainable Development Goals, the balance of total aid activity for food systems-related interventions relative to other aid priorities should be examined.
2021
Despite its importance, bilateral ODA (ODA from bilateral donor countries to recipient countries) is under pressure as a consequence of COVID-19 and general development skepticism in some donor countries, which creates a need to better profile the positive contribution of ODA investments for food systems globally.
2021
Donors need to be focused on mobilizing additional investments from national governments and the private sector.
2021
Investments in the food system can help to deliver on a wider set of development outcomes, and a food systems framing can help to identify synergistic ways of using existing aid resources.
2021
Careful thought and deeper analysis will be required to rebalance the food systems portfolio of aid activities with the outcomes of the Food Systems Summit (FSS), with a particular focus on country-level assessment.
2021
Repurposing existing fiscal subsides is found to provide the largest improvement in the affordability of a healthy diet, particularly if they are shifted from producers to consumers. In this case, agriculture’s GHG emissions are found to fall, but there are potential trade-offs in poverty reduction, farm incomes, total agricultural output and economic recovery.
2022
Where agriculture is still a key sector for the economy, jobs and livelihoods, mainly in low income countries but also in some lower middle income countries, it will be crucial to increase and prioritize public expenditure for the provision of general services support (GSS). This is an effective way to bridge productivity gaps for producing nutritious foods and enabling income generation to improve the affordability of a healthy diet. However, stepping up this type of support in these countries will require significant development financing.
2022
Repurposing existing fiscal subsides is found to provide the largest improvement in the affordability of a healthy diet, particularly if they are shifted from producers to consumers. In this case, agriculture’s GHG emissions are found to fall, but there are potential trade-offs in poverty reduction, farm incomes, total agricultural output and economic recovery.
2022
Measures of empowerment include increased access to productive resources, including access to natural resources, agricultural inputs and technology, financial resources, as well as knowledge and education, strengthened organizational skills and, importantly, access to digital technology and communication.
2021
Measures of empowerment include increased access to productive resources, including access to natural resources, agricultural inputs and technology, financial resources, knowledge and education, as well as strengthened organizational skills and, importantly, access to digital technology and communication.
2021
Explore impact investors’ mutual interest in improving and applying results-based investment tools to assess and monitor impacts of investment contributions to sustainable food systems with the aim of mutual learning, encouragement and scaling up of investments.
2021
Develop a guidance note for the design and implementation of agroecological approaches in investment projects.
2021
Generate financial resources sufficient to accelerate transformation. Massive investments will be needed to transform food systems.
2021
Public investments in R&D for productivity increasing and emissions-reducing innovations should be doubled from current levels, with at least $15 billion of the increase for innovations benefiting food systems in LMICs.
2022
Governments should create stronger enabling environments to attract private sector investment for agrifood innovations and to spur adoption of improved technologies and practices, including resetting distortionary market incentives created by agricultural support and trade regulations and improving regulation for safeadoption and market acceptance of new technologies.
2022
Reform of existing counterproductive incentives created by current agricultural, trade, and investment policies can mobilize both public and private finance for climate-positive food systems transformation and reorient funds toward climate finance.
2022
Public support to agriculture, totaling an estimated $620 billion per year worldwide, should be repurposed toward R&D for green innovations and incentives to producers to adopt and invest in climate-smart technologies and practices. Such innovations should focus on increasing productivity, reducing emissions, and enhancing resilience in food production.
2022
International development funds should be clearly targeted to meeting climate and sustainability goals, and used to leverage or crowd-in private funds from global capital markets.
2022
Innovative mechanisms for tapping additional resources, such as publicly guaranteed “green bonds” or climate-change transparency requirements for banks and investors, should be explored to ensure climate finance needs will be met.
2022
In rural areas, cash transfers can contribute to improve dietary patterns and promote diversification of food production through the alleviation of liquidity constraints. In addition, cash transfer programmes associated with nutrition education offer greater chances to improve child nutrition and health.
2023
Smartphone applications that enable users to make small donations to specific initiatives can provide support for a range of operations, from building resilience to implementing school feeding programmes to delivering food assistance in emergency situations.
2023
The increased use of mobile phones in LMICs has contributed to the adoption of other services such as mobile money, enabling reduced transaction costs and enhanced financial inclusion. Mobile money can improve farmers’ access to higher-value markets (thus increasing their income) and to off-farm income sources as well.
2023
Invest in filling the gaps in access to finance among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) along the value chain, with special consideration for groups that are traditionally disadvantaged, including small-scale producers, small-scale input providers and traders, and women, as well as those with limited current commercial orientation.
2023
Maximize the fiscal space available to improve basic public services, including more comprehensive and progressive national and international taxes on income, profits, land, wealth and commodity speculation, and use the proceeds to support the most marginalized and address the drivers of unequal food security and nutrition.
2023
Explore the option of establishing a fund, for example using the country-level funding for the follow-up to the UNFSS, to support transformation towards more equitable food systems.
2023
Business management training, decision-making skill development, scaling of financial services and products both accessible and relevant to women’s needs, and tools to help men and women strengthen their intra-household communication.
2021
Strengthen responsible investment and innovation in micro, small and medium sized enterprises that support sustainable agriculture and food systems and retain value locally.
2019
Harness digital technologies to establish and strengthen more direct links between producers and consumers offering opportunities for economic diversification, including through brokering sustainable finance initiatives, market opportunities and solidarity economy initiatives.
2019
Promote, as well as enable, responsible investment in participatory research and innovation on agroecological and other innovative approaches addressing especially the specific needs of people in vulnerable situations with their active engagement. This might include a focus on the local dimension of global challenges.
2019
Encourage, in line with national contexts and regulations, increased resource allocation in public research and responsible investments in private research, with appropriate safeguards for the identification and management of possible conflicts of interest, innovation and development activities at national, regional and international levels promote evidence-based balanced investment towards enhanced support for agroecological and other innovative approaches addressing the specific needs of people in vulnerable situations.
2019
Increase access to, inter alia, education, appropriate extension and financial services, methodologies and technologies that are adequate for women, youth and elders, and full participation in related policy processes.
2019
Donors should instigate a collective review of funding modalities for food systems transformation and rural development with a view to creating a shared guiding framework for optimizing the complementarity of differing funding streams.
2023
In consultation with partner governments and other actors at the national and local levels, donors should explore the types of support needed to drive longer-term structural change to achieve desired food systems outcomes. This requires an enhanced theory of change analysis for country investment strategies, focusing on the “how” of food systems transformation.
2023
Foster national, regional and global governance frameworks that facilitate sustainable aquaculture development, integrate the sector into cross-sectoral policies, and enable financial investments.
2023
Improve access to finance for sustainable fisheries through traditional and innovative finance solutions (e.g. blue bonds).
2023
Targeted support to increase the production of specific crops or the use of chemical inputs should be phased out and replaced with less distortive interventions.
2023
Mobilize financial support and investment (diverse funding mechanisms, including private sector investments, green deals, equity funds, innovative finance [e.g. green bonds] and financial incentives linked to climate change initiatives [like voluntary carbon markets]) for protection and restoration.
2023
Encourage engagement of donors and financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund to scale up restoration projects and impact.
2023
Foster partnerships between public and private sectors to invest in infrastructure, logistics, and technology innovations that streamline the supply chain and minimize losses.
2023
Protect low-income and vulnerable groups from the side effects of mitigation or nutrition policies through adequate cash transfers and job training in case of reduction of their economic activities due to mitigation measures originating from agrifood systems (e.g. reduced production of some commodities) or beyond (e.g. energy pricing).
2023
Change climate finance orientation to favour redirection towards social protection.
2023
Improve the financial system to reinforce risk management strategies and enhance uptake of investments.
2023
Create risk-sharing mechanisms to support local lending and micro-credit institutions to extend lending periods, while keeping them compatible with other objectives of lending institutions.
2023
Promote climate-smart investments through specific financial products recognized by the market.
2023
Develop a macro-level catastrophic insurance through a global risk pooling mechanism to support countries in addressing climate, food security and nutrition risks.
2023
Improve women’s access to financial services and weather index-based insurance.
2023
Build the agrifood expertise and risk appetite of domestic lenders, including by developing an agrifood credit risk assessment scorecard, as proposed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
2024
Scale up priority lending programmes and results-based lending incentives for domestic banks, encouraging them to use their own balance sheets to lend to agrifood SMEs.
2024
Increase finance for affordable, indemnity-based, weather-indexed and crop-indexed insurance.
2024
Incorporate bookkeeping and accounting skills into SME technical assistance programmes.
2024
Reduce transaction costs related to the exploration, negotiation and conclusion of blended finance transactions.
2024
Explore how donors can provide not only first-loss financing but also lending at commercial rates, where returns on these investments can be ring-fenced for reinvestment into the same or other blended transactions.
2024
Continue to provide grants for technical assistance for SMEs and domestic lenders, as they bring high levels of financial and development additionality.
2024
Share data, reduce transaction costs and collaborate on cofinancing through the creation of a multi-donor working group, supported by a sustainable finance knowledge hub.
2024
Provide DFIs with dedicated funds that allow them to offer higher-risk loans, such as first loss and mezzanine debt, that have well-defined targets on sustainable food and agriculture.
2024
Provide DFIs with dedicated funds that allow them to provide long-term credit lines, guarantees, transaction advice and technical assistance to domestic financial institutions to build institutional knowledge on sustainable agrifood systems.
2024
Create a data repository on the performance of agrifood SME loans, building on the experience of the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF) and MIX Market.
2024
Accelerate pro-poor economic growth in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through reforms to catalyze more equitable and inclusive growth.
2024
Identify and address government constraints, such as insufficient financing, poor data, and corruption or demoralization in bureaucracy that limit capacity and influence.
2024
Enhance the role of multilateral development banks in de-risking financing flows.
2024
Create a closer nexus between humanitarian, climate and development finance towards food security and nutrition.
2024
Support sound governance and institutions for reduced sovereign financial risk.
2024
Consider public and standardized financing data as a global public good.
2024
Find innovative, more inclusive and equitable solutions to scale up financing for food security and nutrition in countries with high levels of hunger, food insecurity and/or malnutrition and important constraints in accessing affordable financing flows.
2024
Countries with limited access to financing are generally affected by one or more major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition, particularly climate extremes but also conflict, which opens up opportunities for leveraging climate and humanitarian finance activities for financing food security and nutrition. For these countries, grants or concessional loans remain the most suitable option to scale up financing for food security and nutrition and can be leveraged through collaborative financing partnerships as part of blended finance strategies.
2024
Countries with moderate ability to access financing can rely more heavily on domestic tax revenues due to their wider tax base and stronger public institutions. Their governments can raise revenues by steeping up health taxes to promote the consumption of healthy diets.
2024
Countries with a high ability to access financing can take advantage of increasingly promising financing instruments such as green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bonds, which may also embed food security and nutrition objectives.
2024
Making innovative financing instruments more accessible to population groups facing constraints in accessing financial services, such as women, Indigenous Peoples, smallholder farmers and small and medium agrifood enterprises, will be key for financing to work for food security and nutrition.
2024
Intervene along agrifood supply chains to lower the cost of nutritious foods by increasing investments for nutrition-sensitive agricultural production and productivity; increasing efficiency of nutritious food value chains; reducing nutritious food loss and waste; promoting food biofortification; enacting mandatory food fortification; improving rural roads and infrastructure (e.g. nutritious food storage facilities).
2024
The financing architecture for food security and nutrition needs to shift from a siloed approach towards a more holistic perspective whereby stakeholders consider food security and nutrition to be a single policy goal that is featured in their broader financing flows and investments.
2024
Policy priorities of national and local actors must be considered while building this new narrative for an enhanced financing architecture for food security and nutrition.
2024
Multilateral development banks, development finance institutions and international financial institutions should take the lead in scaling up financing for food security and nutrition, increase their risk tolerance and be more involved in de-risking activities.
2024
The public sector should fill gaps not addressed by commercially oriented actors, primarily by investing in public goods and enhancing social values, which requires relying on tax revenues, reducing corruption and tax evasion, stepping up food security and nutrition expenditure, and repurposing policy support.
2024
Improving transparency is essential for enhancing coordination and efficiency among the different stakeholders and will require harmonizing data collection standards at the national and global levels and making data available, which, in turn, is critical to target financing towards the countries most affected by food insecurity and malnutrition and their drivers.
2024
Establish financial mechanisms, such as microcredit or subsidies, to assist small‑scale producers and food‑system actors in acquiring inputs and technology.
2024
Increase financing and capacity of local and urban governments, particularly in LMIC contexts, to tackle urban food‑system challenges, and identify and promote innovative approaches for mobilizing resources (such as municipal bonds) and ensure sufficient municipal staff with holistic skills to address food‑system challenges.
2024
Ensure that municipal financing is adequate and coherent with municipal mandates.
2024
Governments should engage in innovative partnerships with the private sector to commercialize more smallholders and SMEs. These might include public–private partnerships to help deliver financial services and insurance to small farms, and organizing small farms into groups for marketing purposes.
2017
Recognize the diversity of smallholder farmers and target different kinds of assistance to those who are not going to prosper as commercial farmers. Alternative types of assistance are needed if resources are not to be wasted, or farm households are misled into unsustainable livelihood strategies.
2017
Governments need to support the finance sector to fill an important gap in meeting the financial needs of commercially-oriented small farms. In addition to enabling regulations and policies for the finance sector, targeted interventions like credit guarantees, matching grant schemes, agricultural insurance, warehouse finance, etc. can help leverage financial services for commercial farms, either directly or through value chain financing.
2017
Establish consistent and clear standards and guidelines to support the growth of digital finance and its further application in the agriculture sector without imposing overly restrictive entry and operations requirements, while at the same time managing potential risks to ensure customer protection.
2017
Develop information systems that can facilitate the design and provision of agriculture financial services. Critical information includes climate data for agricultural insurance and information on business transactions between producers and buyers for value chain financing. Basic data on agribusiness SMEs could also help financial institutions to analyze them and provide suitable financial services and products.
2017
SMEs also need support as many have trouble accessing credit, and lack business management skills. These constraints can be overcome through setting up investment funds and training programs to support networks of SMEs. Special emphasis should be given to training and encouraging entrepreneurship among women and young people.
2017
Develop a global financing roadmap as a concerted effort to mobilize additional resources for SDG2 from public and private sources for agricultural development, convening a broad stakeholder group of donors, LMIC governments, multilateral financiers, technical agencies, POs, and other key stakeholders, as well as developing a common results framework to track progress against the SDG2 target and an accountability mechanism to ensure commitment-makers live up to their commitments.
2020
The added value of innovative financing mechanisms—as introduced by the health sector—should be further explored by the agriculture sector, including targeted taxation schemes and incentive-based approaches such as advance market commitments (AMCs). Other promising approaches include using grant funding to crowd-in domestic financing, as well as utilizing the role of the public sector for de-risking investments.
2020
ODA should be used more strategically to incentivize increased domestic funding. Multilateral organizations must ensure stronger co-financing commitments from middle-income countries (MICs).
2020
More donor investments in global public goods (GPGs) for agriculture are needed, in which the availability of better data (e.g., needs, results, financing, best practices) will be critical to strengthen programming, monitor progress and develop stronger country-investment cases, which in turn could help attract more funds for the sector. More funding for R&D may also be critical to drive technological progress with better policy frameworks and investment guidance to ensure that the existing funding is used in the most efficient way.
2020
Going forward, existing grant funding should be used in a more strategic way. Grants should be used to leverage and de-risk private investments through blending mechanisms and public, private and producer partnerships to create an enabling environment for the agriculture sector to grow inclusively. Focus should be on ensuring these investments grow, while also using the funds more efficiently and in a more targeted way, in particular, with an intent to leverage as much private sector funding as possible or to pave the way for private sector investment. Grants should also be used to finance global public goods, and solely in support of the poorest countries.
2020
A larger share of agriculture ODA should be provided by multilaterals to reduce fragmentation and ensure better alignment and coordination through their broad governance structure. Donors should ensure that the way they are funding the various multilateral agencies does not lead to mission drift, added redundancy, and ring-fencing of their own initiatives. Also, multilateral agencies should resist the temptation to pursue the proliferation of special initiatives just to suit some donor’s earmarked interest.
2020
Focus on facilitating country-level coordination and collaboration as it offers more opportunities for donors and agencies to coalesce around government priorities through local coordination groups in an effort to decentralize collaboration. Also, project co-financing among the multilateral organizations (and potentially bilaterals) as an effective way to seek harmonized approaches and reduce transaction costs for recipient countries.
2020
Graduation from aid strategies vis-a-vis middle-income countries should ensure that, as countries improve their income status, scarce grants and concessional loans are freed up for the benefit of the poorest for conflict-affected countries.
2020
Enhanced technical assistance, institutional strengthening, and learning from evaluations will be critical in supporting countries in their investment decisions.
2020
Develop and implement policies and tools to facilitate farmers’ access to markets and credit to help improve their livelihoods
2016
Encourage responsible public and private investment, including foreign direct investment consistent with national regulations, and provide other forms of adequate financing, including official development assistance, that supports implementation of sustainable agricultural development, including livestock, particularly for smallholders, including those that are family farmers, and pastoralists;
2016
Enhance access to livestock insurance for all systems, including index-based insurance;
2016
Scale up financing for nutrition – diversify and innovate to build on past progress. Funding needs to be focused on ensuring nutrition plans are delivered in practice This requires scaling up and expanding existing national and international investments to address all forms of malnutrition.
2018
Shock-responsive social protection systems can expand cash transfers (conditional or unconditional depending on the existing level of institutionality), cash for work or food for work programmes when covariate or intrinsic shocks occur
2019
Shock-responsive social protection (including social safety nets such as distributing food assistance; subsidizing prices for foodstuffs; providing vouchers, coupons or school meals; and providing support through cash transfers or public works activities) risk transfers (e.g., climate risk insurance) and forecast-based financing
2018
Youth-focused microfinance, savings groups and cash transfers for business start-ups
2019
Technical assistance to microfinance institutions to help them to innovate, deliver and document financial services for young people
2019
Simplification of business registration procedures
2019
Community microfinance, savings groups, cash transfers for business start-ups
2019
Rural financial system expansion and deepening: Product innovations (such as new inventory credit systems), process innovations (automated workflow ow or logistical processes) and system innovations (introduction of rural banks) are required to enable marginalized rural households to use formal financial systems and access affordable finance and reliable and transparent financial services.
2016
Improve access to financial services and reduce exposure to uninsured risks
2008