A MANDATE TO PROMOTE INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Investment in agriculture and rural development has been falling dramatically. To halt this decline, the Investment Centre helps developing countries and countries in transition to formulate effective agricultural and rural development policies and strategies that promote investment.

It also assists in the preparation of investment projects and programmes in collaboration with international financing institutions and bilateral donors. These projects invariably include funding by government, local authorities and even farmers.

The Investment Centre’s activities are mostly cost-shared: around 40 percent of its costs are met by FAO while the remainder comes from financing institutions. In a typical year the Investment Centre’s total expenditure is around US$25 million of which FAO provides around US$9 million. The Investment Centre is annually associated with projects and programmes that have a value of approximately US$3 billion.

The Centre also serves as a gateway to the vast technical expertise within FAO. It draws on skills that make investment projects and programmes technically and institutionally viable.

Recent projects have included poverty alleviation in Brazil funded by the World Bank, artisanal fisheries in Benin financed by the African Development Bank, rural infrastructure in India financed by the Asian Development Bank, and promotion of investment-friendly policy environment for agricultural development in Eastern Europe funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

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