Food and agribusiness

Our work in food and agribusiness

The EBRD is a leading agribusiness private-sector investor in our regions of operation. Our main focus is modernising the agribusiness sector and helping companies move away from business as usual, investing in a sustainable, responsible and innovative future.

What we do

The food and agribusiness sector plays a vital role in shaping the food systems that sustain human life. Operating in a challenging global environment, the EBRD's activities span a wide range of areas including farming, processing, packaging, trading, logistics, distribution and retail.

The EBRD capitalises on its stable shareholder base and triple-A credit rating, strong sector and country expertise, as well as on-the-ground presence in all of its markets to offer a broad range of financing solutions. We offer financing instruments across the capital structure, individually tailored to meet the changing needs of our clients.

The EBRD offers various forms of financing, such as long-term loans including senior, subordinated, convertible loans or bonds, working capital loans, sustainability-linked loans, as well as blended finance tools, commodity finance, equity instruments, risk-sharing instruments, guarantees and financing facilities with partner banks. Each is individually designed to meet the changing needs of food and agribusiness companies across the region. We also participate in debt and equity capital market issuances.

We strive to be a long-term partner to the private sector and recognise that lasting impact requires more than just financing. To that end, the Bank mobilises a full spectrum of advisory and technical assistance before, during and after our investments, to ensure that the agribusiness companies we work with have the expertise and resources they need to grow.

We recognise that food and agribusiness companies are faced with complex opportunities as well as challenges in the regions in which we invest. The EBRD launched its Food and Agribusiness Strategy 2025 to guide the Bank in supporting its clients’ work to drive the sustainable transformation of the food and agribusiness sector in the context of increasingly complex global food systems. The strategy puts environmental, social and economic sustainability at its core, as the three operational pillars essential to achieving the long-term sustainability of food systems, without which there could be no food security. The strategy also combines innovation with proven, context-sensitive practices to achieve genuine, consequential change. The central concept is incremental radicalism – a strategic approach that gradually incorporates emerging solutions, brings lasting impact and enables stable and resilient food systems to flourish sustainably.

Here is an example of one of our projects in Ukraine, where the EBRD is helping businesses such as Enzym Group to remain operational through challenging times.

947

Number of projects to date

€15,807m

Cumulative EBRD investment

€14,372m

Cumulative disbursements

96%

Private sector share of portfolio

222

Number of active portfolio operations

€3,428m

Current portfolio of projects

€2,801m

Operating assets

11%

Equity share of portfolio

Food and Agribusiness Strategy 2025

The EBRD’s Food and Agribusiness Strategy 2025 sets a course for the sustainable transformation of the food and agribusiness sector in the context of increasingly complex global food systems. It refines its focus by taking a more holistic approach towards the sector by viewing it within the broader context of sustainable food systems, to ensure that no aspect of the food value chain is overlooked. It puts environmental, social and economic sustainability at its core, as the three operational pillars essential to the long-term sustainability of food systems, with a strong emphasis on private-sector engagement and partnerships within global food systems.

While imminent challenges such as climate change, resource depletion, pollution, social inequality and economic volatility confront the sector, the EBRD acknowledges that achieving a profound transformation of food systems demands sustained effort over time.

The Food and Agribusiness Strategy looks to the future by embracing innovation while taking a nuanced, iterative approach to change. Its central concept is “incremental radicalism”, a strategic approach that gradually incorporates emerging solutions, brings lasting impact and enables stable and resilient food systems to flourish sustainably.

To contribute to the sustainable transformation of food systems, the strategy reflects on the current sector context while exploring new areas of opportunity. This approach is guided by a detailed analysis of present and emerging trends to support incremental impact over time.

How we engage with new trends that contribute to sustainable outcomes is often a factor of their institutional, commercial and social readiness, and these may take time to mature. Such areas often demand different approaches depending on the stage of the process, and the EBRD may use blended financing, advisory, policy dialogue or a combination of these.

The Food and Agribusiness Strategy 2025 continues to be implemented in the context of the EBRD’s Strategic and Capital Framework and will support key priorities such as the Green Economy Transition, Equality of Opportunity, Gender Equality and Digital Transformation.

The strategy serves as the guiding framework for all EBRD operations, investments and policy activities in the agrifood sector. It ensures coherence and alignment across the Bank’s various teams while being mindful of country-specific priorities and the broader overall goals of the EBRD. An integrated approach supports the Bank in navigating regional challenges, capitalising on opportunities and meeting its commitments to sustainability, innovation and resilience.

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The EBRD’s Corporate Sector Advisory Team plays a pivotal role in supporting the sustainable transformation of food systems. Its work encompasses a wide range of activities aimed at promoting green, inclusive and resilient investments. The team provides a range of technical and financial support to agrifood companies to ease the roadblocks to financing and growth, working in partnership with industry associations, governments and other international organisations. This includes preparing businesses for financing, strengthening businesses’ operations and improving investment climates.

Project preparation

Pre- and post-signing assistance to EBRD investments, aimed at helping potential clients verify and build capacity in preparation for financing.

Strengthening business

Business consultancy to facilitate adoption of international best practices and new technologies to enhance sector competitiveness.

Improving investment climate

Capacity building and dialogue between the public and private sector to improve policy transparency, bring about reforms to increase investor confidence and remove obstacles for sector growth.

Examples of our partnerships

We operate in close coordination with other global organisations, including multilateral development banks, technical agencies, industry groups and associations, donors, research institutions and universities, and many other entities. We do so to co-finance and deploy donor support for private investment through enabling policies and targeted technical assistance. We also coordinate on policy dialogue and action on key global issues to support the sustainable transformation of the agrifood sector. Furthermore, we bring together and put into practice global expertise, networks and knowledge to promote greener, more inclusive and more resilient investments in the agrifood sector.

The EBRD and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have a longstanding partnership promoting sustainable agrifood systems. Since 1997, the EBRD and FAO have jointly implemented over 200 technical assistance projects, addressing crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, food security issues stemming from the war on Ukraine, and the greening of the agrifood sector. The takeaways from this rich experience are disseminated through the Agtivate hub, jointly created by the EBRD and FAO. See below for examples of our collaboration with FAO.

EBRD-FAO Agrifood Climate and Environmental Sustainability (ACES) Initiative

The EBRD and FAO's joint efforts include a US$ 5.4 million technical assistance package focusing on providing access to climate financing and resource-efficiency investments, supporting the identification and implementation of climate-smart agrifood roadmaps and unlocking investment opportunities for private-sector organisations. By addressing key environmental and physical risks, such as climate change and pollution, the ACES Initiative aims to foster a sustainable and innovative approach to agrifood production. Additionally, it emphasises the importance of policy and legislative reforms to enhance the investment climate and enable strategic private-sector participation in sustainable agrifood value chains. The initiative is supported by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund and the Green Climate Fund.

EBRD-FAO Technical Cooperation Package to Support Food Security in the echnical Cooperation Package to Support Food Security in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean RegionRegion

The EBRD-FAO technical cooperation package of US$ 5.5 million was launched to support southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) countries not only in their approach towards ensuring food security and building resilience in the long term, but also to offer immediate emergency support to populations at risk of food insecurity, exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine. The package aims to strengthen market transparency, enhance food security policies, improve import efficiency for grain and oilseeds, mitigate price risks and explore local agricultural potential beyond grains in the SEMED region. The package is supported by the SEMED Multi Donor Fund and the Small Business Impact Fund.

EBRD-FAO Agtivate Platform

Agtivate is a platform designed to share experiences, trigger dialogue and innovate on sustainable agrifood investments across the regions in which the EBRD operates. It stems from a shared vision of the EBRD and FAO to make agrifood systems greener, more inclusive and more resilient through responsible private investment, enabling policies and targeted technical assistance. Agtivate provides a space to all interested parties – from international financial institutions to private companies, producers’ organisations, policymakers and academics – for interactions on how to transform agrifood systems for the better. The Agtivate hub builds on the EBRD’s agribusiness investment experience, FAO’s technical knowledge and policy facilitation skills, and the joint experience of the two institutions to make private agrifood investment greener, more inclusive and more resilient.

Examples of our programmes

Support for startups

The EBRD's AgVenture programme supports early-stage businesses that are developing technology to make the agricultural and food industries greener and more sustainable. The AgVenture programme is a startup competition where the winners benefit from tailored advisory support through the Star Venture programme. They also receive a grant for additional services – including mentoring sessions with growth experts – and opportunities for networking and visibility at global agrifood tech forums. The runners-up also receive tailored advisory services and a grant to support their business-growth needs. The programme is supported by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund and the High-Impact Partnership on Climate Action.

Furthermore, the EBRD has partnered with EIT Food, Europe’s leading food innovation institute, to launch a new agrifood accelerator hub based in Warsaw for startups from the EBRD’s EU countries of operation. The hub is open to early-stage startups (pre-series A) with innovative solutions and cutting-edge technology relating to climate mitigation and adaptation, soil health and biodiversity, water management and crop innovation and more. The hub will offer a comprehensive capacity-building programme to startups, as well as the opportunity to partner with industry-leading corporates and investors, who will also receive mentoring support. A cohort of startups will be selected each year. They will receive personalised guidance that will help them connect with potential investors and gain exposure at international innovation and investment conferences. The accelerator hub is supported by InvestEU.

Agrifood Nexus Programme in Central Asia

The EBRD launched a €6 million package to address the energy-water-land nexus in the agrifood sector of Central Asian countries. The package includes investment grants, guarantees and technical assistance to help the private sector transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient food production. The EBRD is collaborating with FAO to implement this package, which aims to facilitate further engagement with the private sector in nexus-related investments by providing enhanced evidence on the benefits, risks and trade-offs involved.

The initiative is part of a broader consortium programme involving the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Scientific-Information Center of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia, as well as ministries from participating countries. The programme is active in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and is addressing challenges posed by the interdependence of energy, water and land use, which are being exacerbated by climate change. Watch this video to discover how the programme is assisting local food producers in adopting low-carbon and climate-resilient practices, while promoting a more efficient and environmentally sustainable approach.

Here is an example of our capacity building project in Jordan, where the EBRD is helping to support local livelihoods and connect communities to the land.

Contact Food and agribusiness

Natalia Zhukova, Director, Head of Food and agribusiness

Address:

Five Bank Street, London E14 4BG

Email:

zhukovan@ebrd.com

General enquiries

Email:

food&agribusiness@ebrd.com

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