Prominent among them is the International Finance Corporation. The private-sector arm of the World Bank provides investment and advisory services to agribusinesses along the full value chain directly to companies and indirectly through intermediaries. Many of these investments are small but crucial to supporting the livelihoods of thousands of producers, who fall outside the mainstream financial industry.
In India, for example, the multilateral issued a $45 million loan and made a $14 million equity investment in Jain Irrigation, the country’s biggest provider of micro-irrigation systems, which increase efficient water delivery and reach more than 2,000 farmers.
The IFC’s...
