Private Investment
Creating the right business conditions can help crowd in much-needed private agrifood investment. This is essential, especially amid shrinking public spending and development aid and the fast-approaching 2030 Agenda deadline.
The FAO Investment Centre is expanding its work on private investment. It partnered with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support private investment in 20 countries through the Bank’s USD 1.3 billion food and agribusiness portfolio in 2025, extending this collaboration to five countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
FAO’s collaboration with EBRD includes advisory services such as identifying investment opportunities; facilitating public-private policy dialogues; promoting greener agrifood systems; developing food safety and quality standards and sustainable agritourism; supporting investment in digital solutions; and diversifying exports.
The Centre provided advisory support to intermediate finance for three local banks in sub-Saharan Africa worth USD 66 million – two projects approved by the European Investment Bank to improve access to finance for small-scale producers and agribusinesses in Ethiopia and one in Rwanda co-financed by IFAD and GAFSP to strengthen farmer organizations and unlock commercial finance.
Initiatives
Latest stories
The “Portraits of food heritage” installation at the FAO “From seeds to foods” exhibition in Rome!
09/10/2026
The FAO From Seeds to Foods global exhibition is back for a second year! From 8 to 12 October 2026, under the theme Fostering Innovation for Food Security...
In Argentina, better water planning and investment are crucial for agricultural growth
24/07/2026
Reliable access to water for irrigation and livestock intake is increasingly critical for agricultural production and rural development in the face...
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Investment Briefs
Investing in people to promote agrifood transformation
09/06/2026
FAO Investment Centre and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) have released the fourth and final brief in a series exploring how finance, prices, technology...
Latest publications
FAO Investment Centre - 2018 at a glance
08/2019
Ambitious development agenda calls for extraordinary efforts – efforts that must be financed. Public funding through Official Development Assistance alone...
FAO Investment Centre - 2017 at a glance
09/2018
This brochure is a summary of the FAO Investment Centre activities during 2017.
1964-2014 FAO Investment Centre: 50 years of development support
01/2015
To celebrate the Investment Centre’s 50th anniversary, we at FAO reflected on these years of experiences in facilitating investment in agriculture and rural development. We have prepared this book to tell the story of how the Investment Centre came to be, what it is now and what we hope it will be in the years to come.