Africa : CDC Group, the British development finance institution to make $ 100 million available for the African agricultural sector

CDC Group, the British development finance institution, has just signed an agreement with the Kenyan agricultural company Export Trading Group (ETG) as part of its commitment to the African agricultural sector.

As part of this agreement, the British body will make available an envelope of $ 100 million to be managed by ETG. Concretely, this support will make it possible to conduct various operations along the agricultural value chain for the benefit of farmers, such as the supply of inputs and the reduction of post-harvest losses.

The boost will also be used to finance the training of producers in good agricultural practices for increasing the production of staple foods as well as financial analysis to improve access capacities to regional markets.

In total, CDC plans to benefit its investment to 500,000 producers in 29 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, from Mozambique to Kenya via Nigeria, drawing on the solid experience of ETG, one of the most major agricultural conglomerates on the continent.

More generally, this approach by the development institution falls within the framework of its objective of devoting $ 1 billion to the African continent in 2021.

With regard to agriculture, CDC intends to position itself as a major player in order to liberate the potential of a sector that is still underfunded despite its socio-economic importance.

Closing Africa’s agricultural investment gap estimated at $ 23 billion to $ 31 billion a year, according to the British agency, could raise the value of agricultural production to $ 880 billion by 2030.

“We are looking for other players like ETG who focus on other areas of the markets where we operate. We identify large conglomerates that can enable large-scale interventions to be implemented and at the same time meet the institution’s environmental, social and governance standards, ”says Brad Smith, spokesperson and director investments in CDC Group.

As a reminder, ETG was founded in 1967 and employs more than 7,000 people in 40 countries. Established in 1948, CDC is wholly owned by the British government and invests in both sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia in support of economic development.