The Agriculture Fast Track Fund (“AFT”) builds on previous G8 and G20 commitments by supporting financially sound, environmentally sustainable, and socially beneficial food security projects. As a project preparation facility, the projects the AFT supports form a pipeline of bankable food security projects that support Africa’s agriculture transformation agenda. The AFT provides grant funds for project development costs such as feasibility studies, market research, financial modeling, business plan development, and environmental and social impact studies. The AFT increases the number of investment-ready agriculture infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships by defraying front-end project development costs and risks that commercial developers or other project sponsors are unable to shoulder alone. A modest amount of targeted donor funding can unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in concessional and commercial financing for agriculture infrastructure needs in rural Africa.
Eligible Countries
The AFT will initially operate in a small subset of countries (including Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania – current members of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition) that have entered into agreement with the G8 to refine their policies in order to improve investment opportunities and accelerate the implementation of their country‐led Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) plans on food security. After the initial pilot phase, the AFT will be extended to other countries that will have joined the New Alliance.
Administration and Governance Structure
Coordination Unit: Responsible for the mandate of the AFT and its daily operations.Technical Review Committee: Ensures all proposals meet or exceed the technical, safeguard and fiduciary quality standards of the Bank. Approves grants up to US $500,000.Oversight Committee: Comprised of representatives from all contributing donors and responsible for general policy direction of the facility. Approves grants between US $500,000 to US $1,000,000.
Points of Contact
Technical Department: Jonas Nwankwo Chianu , Program Coordinator.Partnerships and Cooperation Unit: Onukogu Chioma, Principal Resource Mobilization Officer.
Fror more information click here:https://www.afdb.org/en/topics-and-sectors/initiatives-partnerships/agriculture-fast-track-aft-fund
Please why is Nigeria not in the list of countries that AFT will operate? Because I have agricultural product that I wish to showcase.