Private Sector Financing
The GAFSP Private Sector Window uses blended finance* solutions and concessional funding to support projects designed to improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers living in the world’s poorest countries. Investing across the entire food supply chain, from farm inputs to logistics and storage, to processing and financing, the Private Sector Window specializes in early-stage agribusiness projects with a high potential for development impact.
Working alongside the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, we use blended finance solutions and IFC’s expertise and knowledge to invest in projects that may not attract commercial funding due to perceived high risks in the agricultural sector. GAFSP funding is co-invested alongside IFC funding but the Private Sector Window takes it one step further: addressing market failures by providing affordable funding with less demanding terms. This allows the Private Sector Window to invest in early stage or riskier projects in IDA and fragile and conflict-affected states that hold high potential for development impact and financial sustainability. That means that we can partner with companies who include smallholder farmers as part of their overall value chain, providing access to markets, financing and storage, and increasing production and incomes for those living and working in the world’s lowest income countries.
We know too that it takes more than just finance to achieve sustainable private sector development. That’s why advice and technical support are also a critical part of our work as a comprehensive blended finance solutions provider. Through IFC’s Advisory Services, we help raise capacity building by providing on-the-ground training and advice for businesses and farmers in improving farmer productivity, strengthening standards, reducing risks and mitigating climate change effects.
The Private Sector Window is generously funded by the following government partners: Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Blended finance is a new tool to crowd in private sector financing that would otherwise not be available to projects with high development impact. One such approach is to blend concessional funds – typically from development partners – alongside commercial funding.
Our Results
Our Projects
Burkina Faso
Increasing cotton yields in Burkina Faso
Bhutan
Blending Happiness with Hazelnuts in Bhutan
Solomon Islands
Casting a line for improved lives through tuna fishing
Rwanda
Investing in the Private Sector to Feed the Most Vulnerable
Côte d’Ivoire
Promoting professional and sustainable cocoa farming
Liberia
Supporting rubber farmers in the wake of the Ebola crisis
Mauritania
Investing in Dairy Production Protects an Ancient Way of Life in the Sahara
Kenya
GAFSP Invests in Fertiplant to Boost Agriculture across East Africa
Our Impact
Work With Us
If you are part of a corporation, foundation, government, multilateral organization, or development institution focused on agriculture, agribusiness, or agri-finance, and would like to learn more about how we can work together to take on the world’s toughest challenges, please contact us.
Contact Us
Mr. Niraj H. Shah
Principal Investment Officer, Program Manager, GAFSP Private Sector Window
nshah1@ifc.org | tel. 202 473 3743
Latest Publications
Changing Lives 2023 Edition
Insights into how investments made possible by the GAFSP Private Sector Window help change the lives of farmers worldwide.
Edition 9 | March 2023
Changing Lives 2022 Edition
Insights into how investments made possible by the GAFSP Private Sector Window help change the lives of farmers worldwide. Edition 8 | January 2022
For Cocoa Farmers, Cooperative Training Tastes Sweet
"We were producing 5,000 tons for a turnover of 5 billion CFA and today we are over 8,200 tons of cocoa with a turnover of over 11 billion CFA."
'You wait, but nothing comes:' Honduran farmers at the mercy of climate-change-induced drought, floods
“The varying weather patterns really affect the animals,” said Maldonado, 43, noting that if he doesn’t have enough to feed them, the milk they produce isn’t as nutritious. “Climate change has hurt us a lot.”