Global Agriculture & Food Security Program

What they do

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) is a global partnership dedicated to fighting hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in the world's poorest countries. Unlike a traditional private equity fund, GAFSP uses public donor funding to "de-risk" investments in the agricultural sector, making them commercially viable for private investors. It operates through two main channels: a Public Sector Window that provides grants to governments for national agricultural plans, and a Private Sector Window (managed by the IFC) that provides loans, equity, and guarantees to agribusinesses and financial institutions. In October 2024, GAFSP expanded its toolkit by launching the Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT), a pilot window designed to support high-potential small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and smallholder farmers who are often too small for traditional DFI financing.

What they look for

GAFSP aims to improve food and nutrition security and increase incomes for smallholder farmers by filling financing gaps that the private market cannot address alone. They believe that blended finance-combining concessional donor funds with commercial capital-can unlock high-impact agricultural projects in fragile and low-income regions.

Stage

Series B+

Sectors

Food and agriculture, Fintech, Mobility and logistics

Based

Washington, D.C., US