Africa does not necessarily lack the money to transform its food systems. What it lacks, according to the National Agricultural Development Fund, is enough investor confidence and credible institutions to turn available capital into lasting agricultural growth.
The Executive Secretary of NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, made the argument at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Rwanda, during a presentation titled “Activating Leaders to Unlock Investment in Food Systems.”
Ibrahim said the continent had substantial financial resources that could be channelled into agriculture, but attracting that capital would require governments and institutions to address the risks that currently discourage investors.
Four Things Investors Need
According to Ibrahim, a stronger agricultural investment environment depends on effective leadership, dependable data, predictable markets and credible institutions.
He said farmers must be identifiable, agricultural data must be trustworthy and market conditions must be sufficiently predictable for investors to make informed decisions.
Reducing uncertainty, he added, would make it easier for commercial and development financiers to commit larger amounts of capital to agriculture.
Ibrahim also called for stronger connections between farmers and markets, better access to finance and policies that allow agricultural businesses to become more productive and commercially sustainable.
Public Money Should Attract Private Capital
NADF is positioning public funding as a catalyst rather than a substitute for private investment.
Ibrahim said government resources should be used strategically to tackle the risks and market failures that prevent private investors from entering the sector.
The goal, he explained, should be to use every unit of public capital to unlock significantly more private and development financing.
To achieve this, NADF is developing financing models that include:
- Blended finance
- Co-financing
- On-lending arrangements
- Strategic partnerships with banks
- Insurance-sector partnerships
- Collaboration with processors and development institutions
These approaches are intended to spread risk while making agricultural investments more attractive to a wider pool of financiers.
Measure What Investment Unlocks
Ibrahim also challenged governments to rethink how they evaluate agricultural programmes.
Instead of judging success primarily by the amount of public money spent, he said policymakers should examine how much additional investment those funds generated and what tangible results followed.
That means measuring outcomes such as increased production, stronger agricultural businesses, improved farmer incomes and the amount of private capital attracted by public intervention.
Farmers Are Investors, Too
At the centre of the proposed shift is the farmer.
Ibrahim said farmers should be treated as economic participants, rather than simply recipients of government assistance.
That distinction matters because viewing farmers as commercial actors changes how agricultural programmes are designed, financed and evaluated.
NADF’s broader ambition is to help create an agricultural sector that banks, investors and development-finance institutions consider sufficiently credible, profitable and resilient to finance at scale.
For Africa’s food systems, the challenge is therefore not simply finding more money. It is building the institutions, markets and investment structures capable of putting that money to work.