Our commitment to AgDevCo is helping transform Africa’s agriculture sector and improve livelihoods at scale.
Africa faces several complex and urgent challenges in its agricultural sector, including limited financing, climate vulnerabilities, low market access and underdeveloped value chains.
AgDevCo is a social impact investor focused on agriculture projects in Africa. Every dollar it has invested has already generated $2.50 of higher incomes for rural and peri-urban households through jobs and other income-generating opportunities. In 2023, over 2.4 million small-scale farmers, customers and traders – of which 29 per cent were women – benefited from markets and income opportunities linked to AgDevCo’s portfolio companies, and more than 28,000 jobs were directly supported.
In 2024, alongside Swedfund and Norfund, we made a combined $85 million investment in AgDevCo. This follow-on funding, combined with a previous $50 million we invested in 2022, brings our total investment in AgDevCo to $100 million, making us the company’s largest external investor. With this investment, AgDevCo aims to increase its reach to four million farmers and support 60,000 jobs annually by 2030, boosting food security and livelihoods. It also aims to increase climate resilience by supporting farmers to adopt climate-smart and regenerative agricultural practices.
Through our technical assistance facility, BII Plus, we’re also supporting AgDevCo’s efforts to boost smallholder farmer development, gender equality and climate resilience across their portfolio. In 2024 this included supporting Kenyan firms Evergreen Avocadoes and Agventure Limited to adopt regenerative agriculture – enhancing soil health, biodiversity and ecosystem restoration. Activities ranged from soil sampling and carbon stock assessments, to composting feasibility studies and staff training.
