Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP)

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) seeks to address the underfunding of country and regional agriculture and food security strategic investment plans by focusing on longer-term investments in developing countries. The GAFSP provides grants (public sector window) and loans and equity investments (private sector window) to developing countries. CIDA’s support to the GAFSP helps to improve the income and food security of poor people in developing countries through more and better country-led public and private sector investments thereby contributing to the achievement of the first Millennium Development Goal to cut hunger and poverty in half by 2015. The GAFSP established in April 2010 enables participating developing countries to help raise agricultural productivity; links farmers to markets; strengthens the technical capacity of institutions to plan and develop appropriate agricultural policies; reduces risk and vulnerability of the most vulnerable populations; and improves non-farm rural livelihoods. The GAFSP Public Sector Window projects are expected to improve the lives of approximately 7.5 million beneficiaries raising total incomes by an estimated US $100 million per year. Sixty countries are eligible to receive GAFSP funding through a competitive process.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) helping rural households manage income shocks and develop long-term resilience; (2) raising agricultural productivity and improving resilience to climate change; and (3) linking farmers to markets and supporting value chains.