The European Union is one of FAO’s largest funders of extra-budgetary support. The FAO Investment Centre and the European Union have stepped up their collaboration around five featured investment initiatives: AgrIntel (2018); AgrInvest (2018); Food Systems Assessments (SASTI) (2021) followed by the Sustainable Agrifood Systems Intelligence (SASI) (2022); and the Global Sustainable Cocoa Initiative (2022).

The AgrIntel initiative is strengthening investment decision-making in agrifood systems for better targeting, efficiency and sustainable development goal alignment. The objective is to enable more private investments in agrifood systems that are sustainable and have a strong development impact for smallholder farmers. The Centre supports AgrIntel by reviewing investment and technical assistance proposals submitted by three agrifood blended funds and one blended facility. Since its 2018 inception and through 2023, 99 agrifood investment ventures have been signed by these four blended vehicles for a total investment of EUR 443 million. Drawing lessons from this experience, the Centre also acts as a knowledge partner offering guidance to support the European Commission’s strategic orientations and decision-making within the agrifood sector and in the field of blended finance.

Since 2020, the AgrInvest project, financed by the European Union and FAO, has been helping the Uganda Development Bank increase its agrifood lending portfolio. Support has included a feasibility study on a new climate finance facility, training on agri-risk management and loan appraisal, and pilot initiatives with the UN Capital Development Fund on digital finance and big data analytics.

In 2021, FAO, the European Union and the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), partnered with governments and national stakeholders to conduct agrifood systems assessments and consultations in 49 countries. Building on these assessments, FAO, the European Union and Agrinatura – a consortium of European research institutions – launched a second phase, known as SASI. The aim is to improve the availability of knowledge and guidance, globally and nationally, on the institutions, policies and investment needed to accelerate the transition to sustainable agrifood systems.

Through the European Union’s Global Sustainable Cocoa Initiative, FAO is conducting various studies on the cocoa-chocolate value chain and providing long-term technical assistance globally, regionally and in the three cocoa-producing countries of Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

Related links

• The European Union
• Agrinatura