Inclusive Agribusiness
Agriculture remains the economic backbone of most African countries ⏤ in terms of gross domestic product, employment and rural livelihoods. 63 percent of all Africans live in rural areas. It is the smallholder farmers who are feeding not only their own families but entire rural and urban populations. Smallholders provide precious raw materials and products for national, regional and international trade.
However, many of these very farmers count among the poorest in their countries and the whole world. Therefore, improving their agricultural productivity and business capacity has become a major priority to achieve sustained growth and food security across the continent. Promoting rural agri-based micro and small-scale enterprises’ capabilities to access and compete successfully in different markets is part of the endeavours. This is the focus of numerous GIZ projects today.
The working group Inclusive Agribusiness (formerly ABIVCD) addresses the objective of promoting market-oriented agricultural development through the creation of viable agribusiness ventures that are embedded in inclusive and sustainable value chains. The working group emerged from the former working group Agribusiness and Food Security, which has been split into the Agribusiness and Inclusive Value Chain Development working group and the working group on Food & Nutrition Security and Resilience.
The working group comprises over 100 members, with about ¾ operating in sub-Saharan countries.
Main workstreams of the working group
During the SNRD Africa Conference 2019 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the members agreed on several themes of interest for the WG ABIVCD. Therefore, the following thematic clusters were created:
- Farmer Organizations
- Employment (youth/self-employment)
- Advisory Services
- Inclusive Business Models (such as contract farming)
- Agricultural Finance & Insurance
- Monitoring & Evaluation
ICTs in agriculture and gender are conceived as cross-cutting topics and are incorporated where appropriate or addressed individually.