The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has blamed challenges in Africa’s agriculture on low investor confidence and a lack of credible institutions to turn available capital into food-secure systems.    

Mohammed Ibrahim, executive secretary of NADF, said this at the ongoing Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) held in Rwanda.    

In a presentation on “Activating Leaders to Unlock Investment in Food Systems”, which was monitored in Abuja, Mr Ibrahim said Africa had a significant pool of resources to make its agriculture sector thrive.    

He said attracting such capital into agriculture required stronger leadership, reliable data, predictable markets and institutions capable of delivering on their commitments.  

“Building investors’ confidence requires an agricultural ecosystem where farmers are identifiable, data is reliable, markets are predictable, and institutions are credible enough to reduce risks and give investors greater certainty.  

“Unlocking investment at a large scale will require stronger market linkages, improved access to finance and an enabling environment in which farmers and agricultural enterprises can become more productive, profitable and commercially viable.

“NADF is increasingly focused on ensuring that public resources are strategically deployed to unlock additional private investment rather than replace it. We believe that public capital should be catalytic rather than substitutive.

“Public capital should address risks and market constraints that discourage private investment, thereby creating the conditions for larger pools of commercial and development finance to enter the sector,” Mr Ibrahim said.  

He said the fund was advancing financing approaches, including blended finance, co-financing, on-lending, and strategic partnerships with banks, insurers, processors, and development partners, to mobilise greater investment in agriculture.    

Mr Ibrahim advised a shift in how the success of public agricultural interventions is measured.                                                              
According to him, governments must look beyond the amount of money spent to the additional investment mobilised and outcomes achieved.    

“Our success should not be measured only by how much government money we deploy. We should also ask: how much additional investment did that public intervention unlock?  

“Farmers must remain at the centre of agricultural investment decisions and be recognised as economic actors rather than simply beneficiaries of government programmes because they are not beneficiaries but economic actors,” he said.    

He said NADF’s ambition was to help build an agricultural sector that investors, financial institutions and development partners are increasingly willing and able to finance.

(NAN)