Alain Joyandet, the French Secretary of State for Cooperation, said at the launch that the original aspect of FIAA, brought together the African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Alliance for Green Revolutionary in Africa (AGRA) Foundation.
“We hope that other partners will soon join us. The purpose of this fund is to serve as a lever for financing African agriculture. Very quickly, this fund should reach 500 million euro,” Mr Joyandet said.
He also said that FIAA did not aim at replacing the already existing mechanisms expected to finance the agricultural sector.
“It is a fund that will bring profit to companies anxious to respect the environ ment and preoccupied with easing the vulnerability of African agricultural producers,” Mr Joyandet added, stating that FIAA will not be the enemy of family agric u lture in Africa.
Donald Kaberuka, President of the AfDB, said the launch of FIAA was taking place at a time when companies in the agricultural sector, particularly, were facing difficulties in financing because of the global economic crisis.
“Right at the beginning, AfDB intends to inject not less than 20 million euro in to this fund. It is important that agricultural companies be in a position to have the needed liquidity at their disposal to easily finance their activities. It i s one of the purposes of this fund,” Mr Kaberuka said.
A joint survey carried out by FIAA and AfDB shows structural difficulties in financing the agricultural sector in Africa, as it was less attractive for trade banks and was abandoned by partners for development.
“It is important that big donor agencies come back to Africa's agricultural sector, by drawing the lessons from the recorded failures. The fund we are launching today will not only contribute to solve the problems met in financing agricultural companies, but also to ensure a better share of growth by making our companies more profitable,” the AfDB president said.
Paris - 15/04/2009
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