Food for Africa: African Agri Council to unlock R18bn for vetted agricultural projects

Stephen Grootes interviews the ACC's Ben Leyka ahead of the African Agri Investment Indaba that kicks off in Cape Town on 18 November.

The African Agri Council (AAC) says it's going to unlock over R18 billion ($1 billion) for vetted agricultural projects across the continent.

The Council describes itself as a Pan-African organisation that promotes the development of agriculture by facilitating investment into bankable projects across the value chain.

Its stated mission is to eradicate food scarcity and achieve Zero Hunger by 2030.

In conversation with Stepehn Grootes, AAC CEO Ben Leyka emphasizes the importance of providing capital across the entire value chain.

"When people think of agriculture, they can get stuck on primary agriculture... but we're looking across the entire value chain from primary agriculture all the way to your retailers, and then to the end user."

"From a retail perspective, if you had ambitions of expanding across the continent, there's an opportunity for you to tap into capital that will allow that. If you're a young farmer, or you're looking at launching, for instance, your own cold chain or logistics business, again that's an opportunity to tap into some of the funding that's out there."

Ben Leyka, CEO - African Agri Council

"Most of the time, the business looking for capital will tell us, 'I'm looking for seed capital, or equity, or a grant...' Whatever the case, those criteria are determined by both the project owner and the capital providers."

Ben Leyka, CEO - African Agri Council

The African Agri Investment Indaba, hosted by the ACC, takes place in Cape Town next week, from 18-20 November.

It brings together over 800 key stakeholders – from governments and financiers to project owners, commercial farmers and representatives from the agro and food processing industry.

For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article