Transforming the world's agrifood systems requires about $680 billion a year — FAO

Transforming the world's agrifood systems by 2030 requires about $680 billion of financing a year, but the effectiveness of international programmes will depend not only on the volume of funds but also on farmers' and agribusinesses' access to finance, markets and economic incentives.

As SEEDS reports, the question of financing was discussed in Rome at the FAO Global Conference “Actions in One Health in Agrifood Systems”, held on 21–23 September and devoted to implementing the One Health approach in agrifood systems.

According to FAO estimates, the annual financing need for transforming agrifood systems in low- and middle-income countries is about $680 billion. Of this amount, roughly $425–426 billion should go directly to investment and another $255 billion or so to social protection systems.

The international expert on sustainable agriculture and agrifood systems, founder of Sapienza.media Kateryna Zvierieva, who took part in the conference, stressed that the sheer volume of international financing does not guarantee results if resources do not reach direct producers.

We can develop effective environmental and veterinary solutions, but they will not become mass practice if the farmer has no access to financing, sales markets and economic incentives to adopt them,” she said in a comment to SEEDS.

Rwanda has been one example of effective fundraising. About $25 million of financing from the Pandemic Fund was accompanied by the mobilisation of roughly another $160 million of additional resources and related investment. The programme is aimed at strengthening epidemiological surveillance, early-warning systems and coordination between human and animal health services. FAO, WHO and UNICEF are involved in its implementation.

The conference also discussed programmes in Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, where the One Health approach is used to combine veterinary safety, healthcare, food security and support for agricultural production. Participants stressed that animal diseases, climate risks and water problems often extend beyond individual states and require regional investment programmes.

A separate problem is the cut in international aid. European Commission representatives drew attention to the need to involve the World Bank, IFC, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and private capital more widely in financing, since grant resources are insufficient for a large-scale transformation of the agricultural sector.

For Ukraine these approaches are especially important because it must at the same time restore agricultural production, infrastructure, the veterinary system and water resources and adapt the sector to EU norms.

According to Zvierieva, international programmes must be accessible not only to large institutions but also directly to agribusinesses, cooperatives and small producers. Farmers, in her view, should be involved in designing such programmes already at the planning stage, since they are the ones who can assess the real cost of adopting new technology and the economic risks for farms.

FAO also stresses that without involving the private sector, financial institutions and direct producers it will be impossible to overcome the global financing gap in agrifood systems.

Source: SEEDS — “$680 billion for the transformation of agrifood systems”

Original source: experts.news