Proparco launches Africa AgriTrade Coalition to help narrow a multi-billion dollars financing gap in agricultural trade

Proparco launches Africa AgriTrade Coalition to help narrow a multi-billion dollars financing gap in agricultural trade 

On the occasion of the Africa Forward Summit, Proparco has launched the Africa AgriTrade Coalition, bringing together 16 leading financial institutions to scale up trade finance for agricultural value chains across Africa.

Proparco has launched the Africa AgriTrade coalition, bringing together 16 leading financial institutions to scale up trade finance for agricultural value chains across Africa, representing the first signatories with a combined balance sheet of circa €400 billion (c. USD 430 billion) : AFG Holding, Banque El Amana, Banque Mauritanienne de l'Investissement, Banque pour le Commerce et l'Industrie, BPER Banca, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Coris Holding, CRDB Bank, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Equity Group Holdings, KCB Bank, The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd, NSIA Holding Financière, Qatar National Bank, UBCI, Union de Banques Arabes et Françaises.

Agricultural trade in Africa faces a financing gap of over USD 50 billion, holding back key value chains across the continent. This affects sectors ranging from cocoa and cashew in West Africa to cereals and fertilizers in East Africa and in Central Africa, and maize, soy and sugar in Southern Africa.

Closing even a small part of this gap could unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in additional financing, with tangible effects on market access,employment, supply chain resilience and the security of food supply chains. At a time of ongoing supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions, access to trade finance is becoming increasingly critical to keep agricultural markets functioning.

Through this coalition, Proparco aims to strengthen cooperation between partner banks by promoting risk-sharing approaches and enabling larger, more structured transactions across key agricultural corridors. Building on its experience in trade finance and guarantee mechanisms, Proparco will act as a facilitator and will be supporting partner institutions through cofinancing, risk-sharing tools, and by connecting banks to help generate more transactions.

This effort is aligned with the objectives of the African Continental Free

Trade Area (AfCFTA), contributing to regional integration and the development of intra-African agricultural trade.

Following the signature of the declaration of intent, Proparco and its partners will move into an implementation phase starting in June, focused on identifying and structuring initial transactions, strengthening interbank collaboration and building a pipeline of operations.

The first transactions are expected to emerge in the coming months, generating concrete financing flows across selected value chains, with the platform set to expand over time as additional financial institutions join and collaboration deepens.

The initiative was launched during the Business Forum of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, which gathered over 2,000 banking executives, institutional leaders and public decision-makers. 

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