Global Agriculture and Food Security Program Announces New Round of Grants to Fight Hunger and Poverty

Originally published on the World Bank website.

March 30, 2017, WASHINGTON – The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a fund that supports country-led efforts to fight hunger and poverty, announced today that seven countries will receive grants totaling $160 million. The new grants – to Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, Myanmar, Nepal, Rwanda, and Tanzania – will help each country increase food security, raise rural incomes, and reduce poverty.

Launched in April 2010, GAFSP delivers targeted financing for increased agricultural investments to boost sustainable food systems in low-income countries. GAFSP picks up where emergency and recovery assistance leaves off, targeting transformative and lasting long-term development by supporting comprehensive projects with strong climate change, nutrition, gender, and job creation components.

“GAFSP is an innovative and very efficient partnership between developing countries, donors, civil society and the private sector. In addition to increasing agricultural productivity of smallholders and family farms, GAFSP is creating jobs for rural youth and women. This is why we consider GAFSP’s work very important– especially in the context of the G20 discussion on concrete actions for rural youth employment initiated under Germany’s G20 Presidency this year,” said Gunther Beger, Director-General for policy issues of development cooperation and rural development in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The Steering Committee allocated new funds to the following country proposals:

• In Burkina Faso, GAFSP funds totaling $24 million will support the country’s efforts to improve the food and nutrition security status of vulnerable groups through dissemination of selected high performing agricultural technology and value chains that promote decent job creation in rural areas.
• GAFSP has allocated an additional $30 million in financing to the Agricultural Growth Project (AGP) in Ethiopia to increase agricultural productivity and commercialization of smallholder farmers.
• In Haiti, GAFSP funds totaling $10 million will increase agricultural productivity and food security for small farmers in selected areas of the North, Artibonite, South, and Grande Anse departments.
• GAFSP funding in Myanmar, for a total of $27 million, will support efforts to create an enabling environment that reduces the incidence of poverty, malnutrition and food insecurity among the rural poor.
• In Nepal, GAFSP funds totaling $22.7 million will enhance the food and nutrition security of poor and vulnerable households by improving agriculture productivity and increasing resilience of farming households.  
• GAFSP has allocated an additional $26.3 million to help consolidate and expand the results obtained in the Land Husbandry, Water Harvesting and Hillside Irrigation (LWH) program in Rwanda with a focus on enhancing the sustainability and self-reliance of farmer organizations, cooperatives, and rural institutions.
• In Tanzania, GAFSP funds totaling $20 million will support efforts to improve food safety and security by minimizing the occurrence of aflatoxin in the maize and groundnuts food chain.

This is the fourth open Call for Proposals for countries seeking to receive funds for country-driven investment in agriculture and food security through GAFSP. It targets transformative and lasting change through financial support to existing aid effectiveness processes.

“The UK is proud to have been able to support GAFSP in its latest grants to drive agricultural transformation and food security based on country need and rigorous evidence based decision making.   Emerging results from the program, which gives all groups a seat at the table and a voice in decisions, tell a strong and compelling story of public and private sector action to end hunger and undernutrition around the world,” said Iris Krebber, GAFSP Steering Committee DFID Representative.

The successful country proposals were selected through a competitive process by the fund’s Steering Committee, which is composed of an equal number of voting members from donor and recipient countries, as well as three representatives from civil society organizations and other stakeholders in a non-voting capacity. The selections were based on recommendations from an independent review conducted by global agriculture experts. Successful country proposals demonstrated a high level of need, a supportive policy environment, and a comprehensive plan for agricultural development.

"In Rwanda, we greatly appreciate the partnership with GAFSP in addressing food and nutrition security as well as the climate challenges that affect the wellbeing of our people," said Dr. Gerardine Mukeshimana, the Rwandan Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources. "The funds will support transformative pathways to improving the livelihoods of our farmers through increased agriculture productivity, value addition and access to markets in an environmentally sustainable way"

About GAFSP:

GAFSP was established in the wake of the food price crisis to fund long-term solutions that build resilience, put policies in place to help people cope with food price volatility, and help avert future crises. To date, GASFP has received pledges amounting to $1.3 billion from Australia, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with funds going to countries that have strategic, innovative and credible plans already in place to improve agricultural productivity and food security.