Background

The majority of people living in poverty around the world depend on agriculture for their living. Investing in agriculture is one of the most effective ways to increase economic growth and fight poverty. There is renewed interest in agriculture by the U.S. government, nonprofit organizations, multilateral development institutions and business coalitions. President Obama has announced a U.S. commitment of $3.5 billion over three years for a global hunger and food security initiative called Feed the Future and his administration is working with G-8 countries and donor institutions on a coordinated global strategy to ensure that all people have food security, or sufficient access to food. The administration has also stated that public investments will not be sustainable, nor have the intended economic impact, without leveraging private investment.

The role of IGD

IGD will catalyze increased investment in agriculture through strategic collaboration with business and government. IGD’s Frontier 100 network of U.S., African, European and Asian CEOs provides a powerful platform to advise effective donor projects and stimulate commercial investment in agriculture.

Strategies

Improve U.S. initiatives
IGD will facilitate U.S. and African business input for Feed the Future as it is implemented. Based on collective corporate input, IGD will recommend specific policy recommendations to advance current priorities and improvements to facilitate alignment of public and private investments. IGD will provide member CEOs with clear information about U.S. government initiatives and opportunities to advance joint objectives.

Increase private investment
IGD will work in collaboration with others to identify private investment opportunities in two to three Feed the Future countries in Africa and facilitate deals that are high-potential for sustainable economic development. IGD will leverage current investments such as Feed the Future, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and other social investment funds. Initial work will focus on the World Economic Forum’s initiative with the Tanzanian government to increase agricultural productivity.