Food and agriculture

Why we invest in this sector

The food and agriculture sector is crucial to the economies of the countries where we invest, accounting for 50 to 60 per cent of employment, direct or indirect, in these regions. As a key source of economic opportunity, investing in food and agriculture helps maximise job creation, while supporting a critical driver of economic growth and development.

Despite advances in agricultural productivity in recent years, the markets where we invest continue to experience low farm yields and fragmented supply chains, which can be further affected by commodity price volatility. Compounded by growing concerns around global food security and increased levels of demand, investors are looking for opportunities to increase total food production and enhance resilience across the value chain, including through the implementation of technology-enabled solutions.

Given the importance of the food and agriculture sector to our core geographies, we will continue to play a leading role in facilitating its development.

Our strategic focus

We partner with a range of businesses in the food and agriculture sector. When investing equity and debt, we offer patient capital to companies across the value chain – these include high value crops, agricultural inputs, affordable protein, forestry and food processing. We also invest in enabling infrastructure that is important for the agricultural ecosystem to flourish.

Additionally, we partner with specialist and generalist funds, actively looking for investments that have inclusive impact and tackle food security issues. Recently, we have also added a venture capital vertical, to invest into promising early stage companies in the agtech space that are working on new technological platforms towards productivity, sustainability and inclusivity in the agriculture space.

You can read more about how and why we invest in food and agriculture in our sector strategy.