Strategy for agricultural transformation in africa

Agro-Inputs and 
Agro-Dealer 
Networks
Some expertise, but scale-up required:
Previous experience with AFFM can be 
leveraged as a strong foundation for 
increasing 
agro-input 
investments 
and 
working with partners developing agro-dealer 
networks.
The Bank will need to expand its input systems expertise to work both directly 
on expanding the AFFM and also to work with the public and private sector to 
further develop agro-input supply systems and networks. While the Bank—with 
the primary role of investor and program architect—will not necessary work 
directly with farmers and agro-dealers, it will need to be able to understand the 
underlying economic and structural problems and work intelligently with key 
actors in these spaces (e.g., AGRA).
The required FTE(s) must have previous experience with the planning and 
establishment of successful public and private agro-inputs systems. They will 
understand the requirements for and barriers to growth of these systems and be 
able to display prior instances of working with key stakeholders involved, 
including farmers, implementers of government subsidy programs, and private 
suppliers, among others.
2 
Agribusiness and 
Agro-Industry 
Some expertise, but scale-up required:
The 
Bank has previous experience in agro-
industry and agribusiness, having provided 
12% of its portfolio spending since its 
creation for private sector enterprises in cash 
crop production and processing. However, 
over 90% of project spending is on cash crop 
agriculture (particularly plantation farming), 
The AfDB will require expertise in both agribusiness and agro-industry. The 
agribusiness expert(s) will need to understand necessary considerations for SME 
growth and the commercialization of agriculture, in particular those related to 
finance. They will need to work closely with private sector experts at the Bank 
to scale up investments in agribusiness.
The agro-industry expert(s) will need to be able to reference previous experiences 
to display a deep understanding of the investments required for the development 
of necessary infrastructure to support industrial agriculture – particularly for 
3

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