SUSTAINABLE AGRIBUSINESS

Agribusiness consists in manufacturing, production, storage and final distributions of farm related commodities.

Sustainable Agribusiness carries out these activities in a framework that targets financial returns, preserves the long term productivity of natural resources, and safeguards the economic interest of local communities.

As a result of advanced growing techniques and limited land availability, agribusiness sector has today reached its peak production in North America and Europe. This, coupled with growing demand for agricultural commodities in developing countries, has dramatically contributed to the spike in food prices, which mainly affected population at the base of the economic pyramid.

Africa with its 600 million hectares of uncultivated land shall certainly play a major role by increasing global agricultural production and sort the issue of food price inflation. Improving agribusiness here also means to foster social and economic development of local communities: today more than 60% of African labor force is directly or indirectly related to agriculture as their main source of income. Despite these relevant data African agriculture is widely under developed due to several factors among which low productivity, high logistical costs, lack of credit, weak infrastructure, and fragmented ownership.

Within this context Sustainable Agribusiness Funds represent an efficient tool to catalyze international private and public money in order to tackle developmental issues and deliver attractive long-term financial returns to investors. We focus on investment vehicles that acquire land and farms in Sub-Saharan African countries to increase productivity through modern growing techniques, create jobs and insure local food distribution.

Agribusiness in this region represents an effective solution to invest in real economy, gain exposure to an uncorrelated source of financial returns, while contributing to the development of frontier markets and low-income communities.