undefined/undefined

ODA Spending

In 2020, the EUI spent US$1.2 billion of their ODA on agriculture, which accounted for 5% of total ODA. This makes the EUI the second-largest donor to agriculture, in absolute terms.

The EUI’s ODA to the sector has been declining since 2016, likely also due to reallocations to other critical sectors such as health.

Bilateral

In 2020, all the EUI’s ODA to agriculture was channeled as bilateral funding. This included funding flowing directly to partner countries (82%) and some funds channeled as earmarked funding through multilaterals (18%).

Projects related to agriculture development (24%), agricultural policy and administrative management (22%), rural development (18%), and forestry development (7%) received the largest shares of funding.

Multilateral

Although up until 2020, the EUI have not provided any core contributions to multilaterals working in agriculture, recent pledges made to multilaterals working on this issue are summarized below. Some of these pledges will be counted as bilateral funding since they constituted earmarked funding rather than core contributions.

Funding & Policy Outlook

Climate change adaptation and mitigation will continue to be important components of the EUI’s agriculture ODA. The EU’s ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy outlines a plan to promote environmentally and socially just food systems. This strategy was proposed by the EC in May 2020, as a part of the ‘European Green Deal’. It includes an international component with an emphasis on countries in Africa and research cooperation. Through the DeSIRA, launched in 2018, the EU supports climate-relevant adaptation and sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems in partner countries. It committed to spend €270 million (US$308 million) between 2018-2020.

The EU will continue to support CGIAR. In September 2021, the EC announced a new commitment of €140 million (US$160 million) to CGIAR across the 2021-2027 EU long-term budget. The funding will come from the Global Challenges budget line in NDICI - Global Europe.

Funding for agriculture will continue to come mainly from the geographic envelope. Under the 2021-2027 MFF’s NDICI - Global Europe, most of the funding for agriculture will come from the geographic funding envelope, however, food security is mentioned as a subset of issues to be addressed in the Global Challenges – Planet thematic program.

EUI supports blended investments in agri-business. Through its AgriFI, launched in 2017, the EU facilitates impact investments in agri-business projects in low- and middle-income countries. Through its ABC Fund, launched in February 2019, the EUI provided €45 million (US$51 million) through the EFSD to improve access to finance to smallholders and farmers' organizations.

Key Bodies