Addressing Priorities Beyond Agriculture
Improved agriculture and food systems can raise incomes, generate employment, reduce local food prices, and provide people with diverse and nutritious diets. GAFSP responds to demand on the ground, enabling farmers and countries to customize investments to meet multiple needs, with profound impacts both within and beyond the agriculture sector.
Increasing Food and Nutrition Security
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the world was off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) goal of eliminating hunger and malnutrition. The emerging food security crisis, coupled with continuing uncertainty and vulnerability around COVID-19 and climate change, showcase that we must take urgent action to build agriculture and food systems that can deliver safe, affordable, and healthy food to people in a sustainable way, both in times of crisis and beyond.
74%
of projects
Out of 80 public sector projects reviewed by March 2024, 74% included activities related to nutrition, with $522.8 million in support.
4.5
million people
Thanks to GAFSP, 4 million people have better access to healthy food and diverse diets.
Empowering Women Farmers
Women play a central role in agriculture and food systems, yet they are often the last to eat at mealtimes. Compounding crises – such as climate change, a global pandemic, political instability, and conflict – have further exacerbated this inequality.
GAFSP works to strengthen women's resilience to crises, especially as another food security crisis is unfolding. Our public and private sector projects include a range of gender-sensitive good practices related to agricultural technology, extension, and input interventions.
7
million people
GAFSP projects have provided agricultural support nearly 7 million women— over 40 percent of all people reached.
40%
of project participants
Overall, GAFSP projects benefit a high proportion of women – above 50 percent in many countries.
90%
of projects
Almost all GAFSP investments address elements of good gender mainstreaming for public investment projects.
Strengthening Livelihoods
Growth in the agriculture sector is two to four times more effective than other sectors in raising incomes among the poorest. The agriculture sector has the potential to create jobs and increase incomes by raising agricultural productivity, linking farmers to markets, and improving non-farm rural livelihoods. GAFSP’s portfolio promotes paid farm and non-farm jobs.
376,780
employment opportunities
GAFSP has been tracking job creation since 2017. Our public sector projects created more than 376,780 direct employment opportunities.
43%
of jobs were for women
Women play a central role in agriculture and food systems. GAFSP works to empower women, improve their livelihoods and strengthen their resilience.
Explore Our Stories
Three Ways GAFSP is Leveling the Playing Field on Gender Equality
This International Women’s Day, we celebrate women around the world and gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, towards progress and a just, more equal world.
Cultivating a Small-Scale Farming Approach to Improve Food Security
When provided with the right tools and resources, small-scale food producers can respond with remarkable speed and flexibility in times of crisis – a spike in conflict worldwide and the COVID-19 crisis have shown that. Five years after successfully testing the MMI, GAFSP is now funding small-scale food producers directly through the producer organizations that represent them.
For Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, the Impacts of COVID-19 Are Widespread
In this installment of our “COVID Conversations” series, we talk with Lionel Soulard, Cargill’s managing director for West Africa. IFC and GAFSP’s support to Cargill is helping the company professionalize and digitize Côte d'Ivoire’s cocoa sector. Soulard spoke with us recently about plummeting chocolate sales at airports, the challenges of online training with limited internet, and how the pandemic is accelerating digitization—and with it, opportunity.
New Farming “Ecosystem” in Uganda Empowers Women Smallholders
For Grainpulse in Uganda, Reaching Women is Critical to Long-Term Growth.