That said, the task is enormous—nearly two-thirds of Africa’s population depend on agriculture for their livelihood and the sector contributes over 40 percent of the continent’s GDP. 1  I am very pleased today to be part of this first Impact Investment Forum commemorating AFRACA’s 40th anniversary.
The theme of the conference “unlocking private sector capital to scale up impact investments in African agriculture” promises to be a story of shifting the reality of agricultural finance as we know it today. Africa has in the past relied largely on Official Development Assistance and domestic public funding to address socio-economic challenges, many of which have few market-based solutions.