Agrifood systems have remained resilient through multiple shocks, including a pandemic, conflicts, and extreme weather. During COVID-19, governments kept food trade open. When the war in Ukraine disrupted grain exports, trade shifted to alternative routes and suppliers. But the Strait of Hormuz crisis is the latest reminder that shocks can cascade quickly across interconnected markets, and no country is insulated.
Global hunger has declined. But 645 million people still faced hunger in 2025, and nearly 2.7 billion couldn’t afford a healthy diet. Protecting these hard-won gains and sustaining progress against hunger requires preparing agrifood systems for future shocks, particularly as geopolitical and climate risks intensify.
Building that resilience requires sustained investment. Yet too little of the investment needed in agrifood systems is translated into opportunities capable of attracting financing. The challenge is not simply a shortage of capital. It is creating the information, credible investment plans, and financial structures needed to channel capital where it can have the greatest impact.
Building resilience is not simply about responding to the next crisis. It means transforming agrifood systems, so they are better equipped to withstand and adapt to shocks while continuing to improve productivity, incomes, and nutrition. That requires sustained investment in infrastructure, technology, markets, and value chains.
For decades, agrifood systems have suffered from underinvestment due to poor targeting, weak project preparation, technical uncertainty, fragmented institutions, and high perceived risk. These barriers are particularly acute in countries facing poverty, weak infrastructure, and climate vulnerability. Investment decisions have also not always been sufficiently grounded in data and evidence.
Hand-in-Hand addresses a fundamental problem in agrifood investment: the gap between need and investable opportunity. Countries may know what they want to achieve but lack the data to determine where investment can have the greatest impact, the technical capacity to turn priorities into investment-ready projects, or the financial structures needed to attract capital. Hand-in-Hand brings these elements together in a single process.
Its data-driven model moves beyond broad national approaches to target investment based on both need and economic potential. Using advanced geospatial intelligence and analytics, including data on climate risk, soil health, infrastructure, market access, poverty, and socioeconomic conditions, combined with economic modeling and technical analysis, Hand-in-Hand identifies priority territories and value chains.
Governments then develop investment plans around these priorities with FAO’s technical support. The objective is not simply to identify where resources are needed, but to translate development priorities into credible investment opportunities supported by technical analysis, financial modeling, implementation plans, and expected returns.
Hand-in-Hand channels investment toward areas of greatest need and impact, with the goal of eradicating poverty, hunger, and inequality and building resilience by reshaping agrifood systems for the world’s most vulnerable communities.
At the heart of the Hand-in-Hand investment model are four pillars of agrifood investment: governments, FAO, international financial institutions, and private investors. Each plays a distinct role in addressing the barriers and risks that have historically constrained investment in agrifood systems.
The Hand-in-Hand innovation comes from changing how investment opportunities are identified, developed, de-risked, and financed.
Countries identify their agrifood development priorities and develop investment plans, ensuring that the plans reflect national priorities and objectives.
FAO provides data, analysis, and technical expertise to help countries identify where investment can have the greatest impact on incomes, hunger, and poverty. It ensures that the development of investment plans are technically sound, sustainable, and grounded in robust evidence.
Development banks, international financial institutions, and traditional donors provide financing and use blended-finance instruments to absorb early risk, helping make investments viable.
Once opportunities have been identified, investment plans developed, and financial risks reduced, private investors have greater clarity on opportunities and potential returns. This gives them the confidence to finance government-led investment plans that might otherwise be considered too risky.
Together, these four pillars provide a multilayered approach to de-risking agrifood investment, technically and financially. Different risks are assigned to the actors best equipped to manage them, turning country priorities into investable opportunities and connecting them with financing. Innovation lies not in creating new sources of capital, but in changing how risk is structured and financing is mobilized.
| INNOVATION | RESULTS |
| Instrument | Investment plans and portfolios of bankable projects that translate national priorities into investable opportunities |
| Risks | Risks are identified, reduced, and allocated differently among actors |
| Institutional | Different actors are organized into an integrated financing architecture |
| Process | Investment plans move systematically from identification to preparation to de-risking to financing |
| Market | Public and development finances are used to create investable opportunities that private markets would not otherwise finance |
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After identifying priority territories, the country developed a $25 million investment package for six municipalities in the Sanquianga area, combining investments in fisheries, cold-chain and logistics infrastructure, renewable energy, water systems, and ecosystem restoration. It subsequently developed coffee and cocoa investment portfolios in Cauca and Huila, including detailed financial modeling and projected returns.
projected income gains of more than $1,100 per farmer for 3 million farmers in Ethiopia
$1,453 per farmer for 4.3 million farmers in Bangladesh, with more than 23 million indirect beneficiaries
nearly $2,900 in additional annual income for more than 591,000 targeted families through irrigation and value-chain investments in Peru
In Central America’s Dry Corridor, digital soil mapping is projected to raise incomes by $145 per family annually for more than 500,000 producers, benefiting nearly 3 million people indirectly
The Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum, held in Rome every October, brings together the actors across the four pillars. Countries present their investment plans, giving international financial institutions and private investors an opportunity to hear directly from governments and meet bilaterally with country representatives.
The Forum is more than a venue for raising funds. It connects the different stages of the investment process: identifying where investment can have the greatest impact, designing viable investment opportunities, reducing the risks surrounding them, and matching those opportunities with appropriate sources of capital.
In 2026, 38 countries are slated to present national investment plans, alongside five regional initiatives. They feature opportunities that strengthen value chains, increase productivity, and improve livelihoods. They span staple crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, and high-value commodities like coffee and cocoa.
