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As global tensions escalate, France launches FARM+ to accelerate the scaling up of financing for African agriculture
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On the occasion of the Africa Forward Summit, co-hosted by France and Kenya in Nairobi on May 11–12, Proparco announced the launch of FARM+, a strengthened initiative to promote food security and agricultural sovereignty in Africa.
Following the war in Ukraine, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East is once again putting African food systems under pressure. Rising energy and fertilizer prices pose a direct threat to the continent’s upcoming agricultural seasons.
Building on FARM (Food & Agriculture Resilience Mission), launched in 2022 by French President Emmanuel Macron, FARM+ aims to accelerate the scaling up of financing for agricultural value chains and agri-food trade across Africa. The private sector component of FARM, implemented by Proparco, has already mobilized approximately €200 million in annual financing to support food security on the continent.
However, despite agriculture representing 20% of Africa’s GDP and providing nearly half of its jobs, the sector suffers from chronic underfunding.
With FARM+, Proparco now aims to mobilize additional private capital to finance agricultural SMEs, agribusinesses, and financial institutions supporting family farming.
FARM+ is guided by a simple principle: scaling up can only be achieved by further engaging African banks to provide sustainable financing for agriculture.
Mobilizing African banks and securing agricultural trade
In Nairobi, Proparco signed a strengthened partnership with Ecobank, one of the leading pan-African banking groups, present in more than 30 African countries. The objective is to co-finance agro-industrial companies, support SMEs and agricultural campaigns, and develop risk-sharing mechanisms.
Proparco is also launching the Africa AgriTrade Coalition, bringing together more than 16 African banks—with a combined consolidated balance sheet of around €400 billion (nearly $430 billion)—active in agricultural trade finance across Africa.
The Africa AgriTrade Coalition aims to establish co-financing, guarantee, and risk-sharing mechanisms to support larger agricultural transactions, thereby securing supply chains—a key food security challenge for Africa. The financing gap for agricultural trade on the continent is currently estimated at over $50 billion, even as trade finance plays a crucial role in international trade by securing payments and reducing risks in commercial transactions. In the agri-food sector, these mechanisms are especially strategic for maintaining agricultural flows amid logistical and geopolitical tensions.
Strengthening the resilience of African food systems
The crisis in the Middle East directly affects a critical link in agricultural value chains: fertilizers. Highly dependent on natural gas, nitrogen fertilizers are experiencing severe supply constraints and price increases estimated at nearly 50%, which particularly undermines African agricultural systems that rely heavily on imports.
In response, Proparco is intensifying its financing in the fertilizer sector with a two-pronged approach: supporting, in the short term, the development of local fertilizer production in Africa, including by assisting African industrial players such as IEFCL in Nigeria; and, over the longer term, accelerating the development of more sustainable alternatives, such as organic fertilizers, agroecology, regenerative agriculture, and improved seeds.