AFD Group and INNOVX sign a memorandum of understanding to promote sustainable agriculture in Africa.
HIBAPRESS-RABAT
On the occasion of the spring meetings of the Paris Peace Forum organized at UM6P Benguérir, in Morocco on June 10, the French Development Agency (AFD), PROPARCO, its subsidiary dedicated to the private sector, and INNOVX, a committed multi-sector company in the development of innovative and sustainable businesses and ecosystems, have signed a strategic memorandum of understanding.
Contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this tripartite partnership, aligned with the strategic orientations of INNOVX, AFD and PROPARCO, aims to strengthen cooperation and multi-actor mobilization around strategic projects. in Africa, with the ambition of responding to the continent’s food security challenges by sustainably developing its agricultural potential by 2050. Supporting the deployment of agricultural value chains, serving sustainable and inclusive growth
This agreement is part of the Agri-Finance Platform program, initiated and launched by INNOVX in October 2023 and sponsored by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the OCP Group.
The platform works to structure and develop sustainable and resilient agricultural value chains across Africa, aiming to mobilize $800 million by 2030 through various financial instruments (loans, donations, guarantees, equity investments) .
Through the technical and financial support planned for 60 incubation and financing operations, the Agri Finance platform will contribute to the consolidation of more resilient and efficient agri-food value chains, to the strengthening of skills through professional training, to the creation of sustainable jobs and increased income for agricultural populations.
A multi-stakeholder mobilization to transform African agriculture through this memorandum of understanding, the AFD Group confirms its commitment within the coalition of partners supporting the ambition and activities of the platform, aimed at improving the performance of the systems agricultural sector in Africa via a strengthening of actors involved in all value chains, from upstream to downstream, and a transformation of producer practices.
Based on a continuous strategic dialogue, the sharing of sectoral diagnoses and the intensification of interactions between local teams, the partnership aims to optimize synergies and complementarities between the action capacities and financial instruments of AFD, PROPARCO, INNOVX and the other partners of the platform, in order to meet financing needs and consolidate the different actors in the agricultural value chains. By signing this protocol, Rémy RIOUX, Director General of the French Development Agency, reaffirms the commitment of AFD and PROPARCO to sustainable agricultural development in Africa: “This agreement aims to accelerate the necessary transformation of systems African agricultural sectors to make them more efficient, improve yields and reduce food losses in particular, in order to contribute to our common objective of food security on the African continent. The ambition of the Agri-Finance platform that we are joining is also to create opportunities for small producers and agricultural workers, in particular women and young people, by increasing their income and more equitably distributing the value created between the different actors in the agri-food value chains”.
Youssef EL BARI, CEO of INNOVX, declared: “Our strategic partnership with AFD and PROPARCO reflects our common commitment to develop sustainable and resilient agriculture, essential to food security on the African continent. This collaboration marks an important step in realizing our vision and ambition to develop innovative and sustainable businesses and ecosystems. Through the agricultural financing platform, Agri-Finance Platform, recently developed by INNOVX, we support projects that realize this vision. »
