USAID, Sweden to Spur Investment in African Ag Infrastructure
9 May 2013 
Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank; and Gunilla Carlsson, the Swedish minister for International Development Cooperation, announced the creation of a $25 million fund called the “Agriculture Fast Track” to spur private investment in agriculture infrastructure projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Agriculture Fast Track will boost agriculture infrastructure development in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania. “Supporting up to $1.5 million per project, the fund will finance upstream work of project design, including feasibility studies, market analyses, site surveys, business plans, financial modeling and other activities necessary to ensure project quality and bankability,” USAID said, adding, “These project preparation grants will ultimately facilitate access to more funding for agriculture infrastructure because banks and other investors require this documentation to issue commercial loans.”
The Agriculture Fast Track was developed with the support of USAID, which has committed $15 million and the Government of Sweden, which pledged $10 million. The fund will be managed by the African Development Bank.
“The African economy is currently overly dependent on public investment for infrastructure development,” Kaberuka said. “The Agriculture Fast Track is a critical tool to better leverage donor funding to catalyze private sector investment in support of infrastructure construction and Africa’s long-term economic growth and food security.”
Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, and Tanzania are members of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which was launched by President Obama at last year’s G-8 summit. The New Alliance matches market-oriented regulatory reforms in these six countries with $3.7 billion in commitments from the private sector in agriculture.
“By targeting the project preparation stage of projects, the Agriculture Fast Track will advance infrastructure projects when funding is most acutely needed to pivot from planning to construction,” Carlsson said.
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