Global Agriculture & Food Security Program

What Global Agriculture & Food Security Program does

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) is a multilateral financing platform and Financial Intermediary Fund hosted within the World Bank Group, established in April 2010 in response to the 2007–08 food price crisis. It pools donor resources from twelve governments and foundations — including the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Japan, and Ireland — and deploys capital through eight Supervising Entities: ADB, AfDB, FAO, IDB, IFAD, IFC, WFP, and the World Bank. Since inception it has mobilized over $2.44 billion across 323 projects in 55 low-income countries, reaching nearly 32 million people (41% women) and supporting more than 24,600 producer organizations.

GAFSP's product surface comprises four core financing mechanisms: Country Grants to low-income governments for national agriculture and food-security investment plans; Producer Organization Grants providing direct support to smallholder farmer cooperatives; the Private Sector Window, which channels blended concessional finance through IFC across the food supply chain; and the Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT) pilot launched in October 2024 to catalyze private and climate finance for MSMEs and startups in agrifood. Complementary technical assets include IFC's Food Loss Impact Tool (covering 80 crops in 160 countries) and the deployment of FAO's Food Insecurity Experience Scale at project level.

GAFSP's revenue model is donor-funded grant-making; it does not charge for services and does not generate sales revenue. Its go-to-market is demand-driven: countries and producer organizations submit proposals via competitive open calls, Supervising Entities implement and oversee projects, and a Steering Committee of donors, recipient countries, civil society, and MDBs sets governance. End-customers span governments, smallholder farmers, producer organizations, and early-stage agribusinesses, with thematic priority given to climate resilience, gender equality, nutrition, and fragile/conflict-affected contexts.

Name

Global Agriculture & Food Security Program

Legal name

Global Agriculture & Food Security Program

Website

https://gafspfund.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Development Financing

NAICS

Community Food Services (624210), Finance and Insurance (52)

SIC

Federal & Federally-Sponsored Credit Agencies (6111)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Security, Agriculture & Nutrition Aid Programs (BPADABAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funds (FSANAJAE), Nutrition & Food Security (Global Health) NGOs (HLAJAKAH), Food Assistance & Safety Nets (In-Kind, Vouchers, Cash Transfers) (BPADAJAA), Agricultural & Rural Microfinance (FSAKAGAG)

Keywords

• Agricultural development financing
• Food security grants
• Concessional blended finance
• Smallholder farmer support
• Agrifood investment

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Financing: GAFSP provides grant funding to countries, producer organizations, and private sector entities for transformative investments across the agrifood system. Funding comes from donor contributions pooled together.
2. Concessional Finance: Blended concessional finance through IFC and other multilateral Development Finance Institutions to implement financial innovations that unlock private investment in underserved agricultural entrepreneurs and value chains.
3. Private Sector Window: Uses blended finance solutions and concessional funding to support projects that improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers, investing across the entire food supply chain from farm inputs to processing and financing.
4. Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT): Pilots innovative financing instruments using concessional investment financing that has potential to earn income and return principal, forming basis for renewable funding for future investments.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) is a multilateral partnership and Financial Intermediary Fund that pools donor resources and channels grants and concessional finance to improve food and nutrition security in low-income countries. Its core offerings include Country Grants to governments, Producer Organization Grants to farmer cooperatives, the Private Sector Window delivering blended finance through the IFC, and the Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT) pilot for affordable private and climate finance.

Product overview

GAFSP is a multilateral partnership and financing platform (not a traditional software product) that provides a portfolio of grant and concessional financing mechanisms to improve food and nutrition security. The core offerings include: Country Grants to governments for agriculture and food security investments; Producer Organizations Grants providing direct support to smallholder farmer organizations; Private Sector Window delivering blended finance through the IFC; and the Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT) pilot for private sector and climate finance. Additionally, GAFSP provides access to IFC's Food Loss Impact Tool for measuring environmental impacts. The program pools funds from 12 donors and leverages multilateral development banks and UN agencies as supervising entities to deploy financing across 55 countries, reaching nearly 32 million people.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Country Grants GAFSP provides grants to low-income countries to support national agricultural and food security investment plans that governments develop together with farmers, agribusinesses, technical experts, and civil society through a participatory and transparent process.
• Producer Organizations Grants GAFSP channels direct support to smallholder farmer organizations, helping build capacity, improve market access, and strengthen participation by vulnerable groups such as women farmers and youth.
• Private Sector Window GAFSP's Private Sector Window uses blended finance solutions and concessional funding through the IFC to support projects that improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers, investing across the entire food supply chain from farm inputs to processing and financing.
• Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT) Second-generation funding window that pilots innovative financing instruments using concessional investment financing managed by partner DFIs (AfDB, ADB, IDB Invest, IFAD, IFC), designed to earn income and return principal to form the basis for renewable funding for future investments.
• IFC's Food Loss Impact Tool Tool developed by IFC in partnership with Carbon Trust to estimate GHG reductions, food security implications, input savings (water, fertilizers, fuel), and biodiversity benefits from reducing food loss. Analyzes impacts for 80 crops/foods in 160 countries.
• 2026 Ninth Call for Proposals - $163M Grants Program

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 32 million people reached, 41% women, supporting more than 24,600 producer organizations
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• World Bank GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2010World Bank serves as Trustee and hosts a Coordination Unit (CU) within the Agriculture and Food Global Practice that provides support to GAFSP's Steering Committee. The CU oversees overall Program operations, manages country grants, producer organizations grants, and Business Investment Financing Track, and coordinates with IFC for private sector window portfolio.
• International Finance Corporation (IFC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIFC manages GAFSP's Private Sector Window portfolio, using blended finance to invest in projects that may not attract commercial funding due to high perceived risks. Works with companies that integrate smallholder farmers into value chains.
• African Development Bank (AfDB)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAfDB serves as a Supervising Entity for GAFSP projects, implementing agricultural development initiatives across Africa with local expertise.
• Asian Development Bank (ADB)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerADB serves as a Supervising Entity for GAFSP projects, implementing agricultural development initiatives across Asia-Pacific.
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFAO serves as a Supervising Entity for GAFSP projects, providing technical expertise in agriculture and food security implementation.
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerIFAD serves as a Supervising Entity for GAFSP projects, focusing on rural poverty reduction and agricultural development.
• Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerIDB serves as a Supervising Entity for GAFSP projects, implementing agricultural development initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• World Food Programme (WFP)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWFP serves as a Supervising Entity for GAFSP projects, providing expertise in food assistance and nutrition.
• Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCivil society organization representing Africa on GAFSP's Steering Committee. Dr. Mathabo Tsepa currently holds the Africa seat (as of August 12, 2025).
• Samoan Farmers AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCivil society organization representing Asia and the Pacific on GAFSP's Steering Committee. Clayton Simamao currently holds the seat (as of August 12, 2025).
• Action contre la FaimcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCivil society organization representing OECD countries on GAFSP's Steering Committee. Pauline Verriere currently holds the seat (as of August 12, 2025).
• African Development Bank Group (AfDB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReceived first funds from GAFSP's new financing window in October 2025, including $10 million de-risking tranche and up to $4 million in grant resources to catalyze $200 million in private-sector lending for agricultural companies in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia.
• Global Alliance for Food SecurityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-convened by the World Bank and G7 Presidency, GAFSP is a founding member and will use the Global Food and Nutrition Security dashboard launched November 9, 2022.
• Global Alliance Against Hunger and PovertycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGAFSP is a founding member, officially launched during the G20 Leaders' Summit in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): UN specialized agency and international financial institution focused on financing agricultural development projects for rural poor in developing countries. Operates a similar donor-pooled model with grants and concessional loans, and serves as one of GAFSP's own Supervising Entities, indicating highly comparable mandate and target beneficiaries.
• CGIAR: Global research partnership for a food-secure future, integrating agricultural research centers across the developing world. Comparable as a multi-donor pooled funding mechanism for food security, but focuses on agricultural research rather than direct financing of smallholder projects.
• Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA): African-led organization working to transform smallholder agriculture in Africa through funding, technical assistance, and policy advocacy. Direct peer in the agricultural development financing space, with overlapping donor base (Gates Foundation) and target beneficiaries of African smallholder farmers.
• Green Climate Fund: Multilateral fund established to support developing countries' efforts to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. Comparable as a Financial Intermediary Fund with donor pooling and concessional finance, increasingly intersecting with GAFSP's climate co-benefits mandate (49% of funding).

Broad incumbents

• World Food Programme (WFP): UN agency providing food assistance and emergency relief globally, with focus on emergency response and nutrition rather than long-term agricultural investment. Comparable to GAFSP in serving low-income countries and addressing food security, and serves as one of GAFSP's Supervising Entities.
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): UN specialized agency leading international efforts to defeat hunger through agricultural development, nutrition, and food security. While a sister UN agency with mandate overlap, FAO's focus is technical assistance and policy rather than financing, and it serves as one of GAFSP's Supervising Entities.
• World Bank IDA: International Development Association, the World Bank's concessional lending arm for the world's poorest countries. Comparable as a pooled multilateral concessional finance mechanism hosted by the World Bank Group, with overlapping countries and direct programmatic relationships with GAFSP.
• African Development Bank (AfDB): Multilateral development bank financing African infrastructure and agricultural development. Comparable as a major concessional finance provider in African agriculture; AfDB received $14M from GAFSP in October 2025 to catalyze $200M in private sector lending, demonstrating deep operational linkage.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Agricultural Development: Major philanthropic foundation funding agricultural development programs to reduce hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Comparable as a foundational donor to GAFSP ($87M committed) and parallel funder of smallholder agriculture initiatives through grantees like AGRA.

Regional players

• USAID Feed the Future: US government global hunger and food security initiative addressing root causes of hunger and poverty through agricultural development. Comparable as US-led food security financing platform operating in overlapping recipient countries, though driven by US foreign aid budget priorities rather than multilateral governance.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GAFSPfund
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@GAFSPfund
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gafsp/about

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments3 records

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Frequently asked questions about Global Agriculture & Food Security Program