Innovative Finance
The annual unmet financing needs across agrifood systems are enormous, particularly for small-scale farmers, small and medium enterprises and farmer organizations in developing countries. These amounts do not even include the additional funding needed each year to sustainably transform the world’s agrifood systems.
Innovative financing solutions – such as impact investing, fintechs, blended finance, other de-risking instruments and carbon finance – can help bridge that gap.
The FAO Investment Centre’s advisory team supports partners like the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank to do more and better in the agrifood lending sphere.
FAO’s portfolio of climate-related financing projects is also growing, as are efforts to align investments and planning with the Paris Agenda, helping countries and financiers meet their climate commitments.
The Centre is working with countries and partners to close the digital divide and introduce more digital solutions – like fintechs, mobile payments, weather-based insurance – that can make a difference in the agrifood sector, especially for small-scale producers.
Initiatives
Latest stories
Investment Briefs
The dos and don’ts of blended finance in agrifood systems – advice to mobilize capital for impact via investment funds
23/03/2026
Blended finance – the use of public or philanthropic money to mobilize private investment for sustainable development – quickly gained traction as...
New book traces the FAO Investment Centre’s evolution over its first 60 years
19/12/2025
For over six decades, the FAO Investment Centre has helped countries invest in agrifood systems to reduce hunger, poverty and malnutrition and advance...
Lessons learned on boosting private agrifood investments in Africa by Development Finance Institutions
18/12/2025
The FAO Investment Centre co-organized and moderated the Development Finance Institutions (DFI) Forum with the African Agri Council in Cape Town, South...
A look at financing opportunities for primary cocoa processing in Côte d’Ivoire
11/12/2025
The European Union, Côte d'Ivoire's leading trading partner, asked the FAO Investment Centre for assistance in estimating the country’s current and...
Latest publications
FAO Investment Centre - 2022 at a glance
03/2023
FAO is committed to helping countries achieve a healthier, more sustainable future. That means finding the right combination of policies, innovations and public and private investment to help them realize the promise of the four betters – better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.
Evolution of food e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic
03/2023
The brief provides policy recommendations and identifies strategies and key areas of investment that are required for the sustainable development of FFV e-commerce. Governments, particularly urban authorities, must develop and promote a conducive institutional, regulatory and business environment to maximize e-commerce opportunities.
Prices and farmer investment: Evidence from experimental studies
11/2022
Changes in commodity prices may impact smallholder farmers in various ways: to what extent do higher prices transmit to the farmer (or are they captured by intermediaries)? Can higher prices spur higher investment or lead to better outcomes for farming households, reducing poverty? This Investment Brief highlights key messages from the available experimental and quasi-experimental evidence on this topic and identifies evidence gaps for future work.
FAO Investment Centre – 2021 at a glance
03/2022
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) aims to provide sustainable agrifood investment and finance solutions to...
FAO Investment Centre - 2020 at a glance
07/2021
Making food systems more sustainable is not just about reducing carbon footprints, but also about creating jobs, reducing inequalities, improving efficiencies along supply chains and strengthening people’s ability to cope with climate change. This short summary - 2020 at a glance highlights the recent work fo the Centre.