CFC Executive Board approves 8 investments
Almost 90,000 smallholders will benefit from investments approved at the Common Fund for Commodities’ (CFC) 74th Meeting of the Executive Board (EB), held on 12 October 2022.
The EB reviewed eight investment proposals, which had been submitted through the 20th Call for Proposals and recommended by the CFC Consultative Committee (CC).
After analysing their long-term potential, the EB approved all the proposals. The total investment will be USD 21,495,000 with the CFC contributing USD 8.6 million. The investments will diversify the CFC’s portfolio through commodities including herbs and spices, soybeans, oilseeds, coffee, rice and fruits, and services such as land mapping.
Together, these investments are expected to benefit 89,800 smallholder farmers in countries including Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Peru, Thailand, Uganda and Zimbabwe (two least developed countries). They will target several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 2 (Zero hunger), SDG 5 (Gender equality), SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth), SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production), SDG 13 (Climate action), SDG 14 (Life below water), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the goals).
During the 20th Call for Proposals, the CFC received 270 proposals, a 270% increase on the previous call. This reflects the growing demand for CFC financing and the importance of its work with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries.
CFC Managing Director Amb. Mohammed Belal said: “Approving these investments in vital agribusinesses will help some of the poorest smallholder farmers to build prosperity in commodity-dependent countries. For those living at the margins, this will deliver substantial improvements to their lives. But we want to do more. We urge member states and donor communities to commit more funds so that we can scale up our activities and do more to eradicate poverty. There are many viable agribusinesses that could improve the lives of smallholders if we had the resources to support them and the value chains they are part of.”
The EB also received an update on the CFC’s Commodity Impact Investment Facility (CIIF). This is a new facility for institutional and private sector investors that will lean on the CFC’s extensive experience building relationships and mitigating risk, to target impact-driven SMEs and smallholder farmers.
Other items discussed included: the Loan Portfolio Management; the Project Pipeline; the Impact Portfolio Management; financial and administrative matters. New Consultative Committee (CC) Members were also elected.
The hybrid meeting was chaired by Ms. Anna Tofftén (Sweden). Ms. Jie Chen (China), CFC Consultative Committee (CC) Chair, also attended to report on last June’s CC meeting.