The Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), Mohammed Ibrahim, has said Africa’s agricultural investment challenge is not a shortage of capital, but the lack of investor confidence and credible institutions needed to channel available funds into the continent’s food systems.
Ibrahim stated this at the ongoing Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) in Kigali, Rwanda, where he set the tone for a panel discussion on ‘Activating Leaders to Unlock Investment in Food Systems.’
He said significant pools of capital are available globally, but investors require stronger leadership, reliable data, predictable markets and credible institutions before committing resources to Africa’s agricultural sector.
‘Capital exists. What is often missing is the confidence that allows capital to move,’ Ibrahim said.
According to him, strengthening investor confidence requires an agricultural ecosystem where farmers are identifiable, data is reliable, markets are predictable and institutions can deliver on their commitments.
He said NADF was increasingly repositioning public financing as a catalyst for attracting private-sector investment into agriculture rather than as a substitute for commercial capital.
‘At NADF, we increasingly believe that public capital should be catalytic rather than substitutive,’ he said.
Ibrahim explained that the Fund was exploring financing mechanisms, including blended finance, co-financing, on-lending and strategic partnerships with banks, insurance companies, processors and development partners to mobilise larger pools of investment into agriculture.
He said public resources should be deployed strategically to address risks and market failures that discourage private investors, thereby creating the conditions for commercial and development finance to enter the sector at scale.
The NADF boss also advocated a shift in how governments assess the effectiveness of public agricultural investments.
He argued that measuring success solely by the amount of government funds spent does not provide a complete picture of the impact of interventions.
‘Our success should not be measured only by how much government money we deploy. We should also ask: How much additional investment did that public intervention unlock?’ he said.
Ibrahim further stressed the need to place farmers at the centre of agricultural investment decisions, noting that they should be treated as economic actors rather than mere beneficiaries of government programmes. ‘Farmers are not simply beneficiaries. They are economic actors,’ he said.
He identified stronger market linkages, improved access to finance and a more enabling business environment as critical to making farmers and agricultural enterprises more productive, profitable and commercially viable.
According to him, NADF’s ambition is to contribute to the development of an agricultural sector that investors, financial institutions and development partners are increasingly willing and able to finance.
Ibrahim said achieving this would require decisive leadership, credible institutions, reliable agricultural data and predictable markets, alongside the strategic deployment of public capital to strengthen investor confidence.
He maintained that these elements were essential to unlocking financing at the scale required to transform Africa’s food systems and accelerate the continent’s agricultural development.