The U.S. and Norway have jointly committed $70 million to establish a fund aimed at supporting farmers and agricultural businesses in Africa. This initiative comes in response to recurring challenges such as drought, climate change, armed conflict, and political instability, leading to severe food shortages across the continent. The fund, announced by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Norwegian Ministry of International Development on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, seeks to address these issues by reaching a total of $200 million through additional contributions from donors. It has the potential to benefit approximately 7.5 million people and will receive an initial commitment of $35 million from both the U.S. and Norway.
This funding is expected to assist five hundred small- and medium-sized agricultural enterprises, support 1.5 million smallholder farmers, and create around sixty thousand private sector jobs. The fund aims to attract significant commercial financing by mitigating investment risks, particularly in the rainfed agriculture sector, which is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.