The Private Sector Window of the G20 Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, administered by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has launched an initial call for proposals from private sector firms and financial institutions seeking financing for agricultural projects in low-income countries.
The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program is a multilateral mechanism to assist in the implementation of some US$22 billion in pledges made by the G8 and G20 in 2009 to strengthen food security in low-income countries. The program channels donor funding to support public and private initiatives developed by client countries to improve productivity, competitiveness, and governance in their agribusiness sectors.
The Private Sector Window of the Program was established to manage fund allocated for private initiatives in the agriculture sector of low-income countries. This call is the first effort to identify opportunities to supply financing for investment and advisory programs for small farmers and small and medium enterprises that typically have difficulty attracting commercial financing. The Private Sector Window will use lessons learned in this first call to identify promising and innovative solutions to increase the commercial potential of small and medium-sized agri-businesses and farmers by bringing them into the local, national and global value chain.
Proposals are being sought from private companies operating in the agribusiness, food, and beverage value chains and may include agricultural input and service providers, farmer cooperatives, agricultural commodity traders, processors, related infrastructure and logistics providers, and financial institutions and intermediaries such as banks lending to the agribusiness sector or private equity funds investing in the sector.
The full eligibility criteria can be found at http://www.gafspfund.org/gafsp/content/eligibility-criteria.
The Private Sector Window of the Program currently has 48 million Canadian dollars available to finance private investments and 2 million Canadian dollars for advisory services.
The Program’s GAFSP Private Sector Window, initially funded by Canada, will support and demonstrate new and innovative financing aimed at increasing the commercial potential of small and midsize agribusinesses and farmers by bringing them into the local, national, and global value chain.
The Private Sector Window complements GAFSP’s Public Sector Window, administered by the World Bank, which provides financing for country-led agricultural development strategies, has made grant awards to 12 low-income countries since its establishment in April 2010.
A Project Investment Committee established by donors will decide which proposals to fund on behalf of the facility and the amount. All the projects will follow IFC’s processes and procedures and comply with IFC’s requirements.
Additional information is available at http://www.gafspfund.org.
