Investing in Agrifood Systems: FAO at the 2026 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow-up

Fin4Dev dialogue on debt swaps and agrifood systems investment

At the forefront of its engagement in the Financing for Development Week, FAO co-organized a Fin4Dev dialogue on The role of debt swaps in fostering long-term investment in agrifood systems to achieve food security and improve nutrition. In the discussion, policymakers, international organizations, and development partners explored how debt swaps can be leveraged to unlock sustained investment in agrifood systems.

The dialogue, moderated by Angélica Jácome, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations, opened with a video presentation from Máximo Torero Cullen, FAO Chief Economist, who emphasized the Organization's commitment to advancing innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms. He underscored the importance of debt swaps as a tool to address both fiscal constraints and systemic challenges facing agrifood systems. "FAO is committed to accelerating high-quality debt swaps for food security, nutrition and climate action, supporting the required infrastructure and enabling environments across agrifood systems," he stated.

With examples of debt swaps shared by the Governments of Italy, Spain and Egypt, as well as World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the dialogue underscored the potential of debt swaps to catalyze investments in agrifood systems to achieve food security and nutrition and discussed how the Global Hub for Debt-for-Development Swaps could help create a more structured, coordinated and scalable ecosystem for debt swaps.

Advancing trade, resilience and finance for agrifood systems transformation

FAO also engaged in a range of discussions highlighting the interconnected roles of trade, resilience and finance in advancing agrifood systems transformation and sustainable development. Speaking in the general debate of the Financing for Development Forum, Adriano Campolina, Deputy Director ad interim of FAO's Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, highlighted that the financing gap to transform agrifood systems is estimated at around 680 billion US dollars and stressed the urgent need to scale up and better align financing for agrifood systems in line with the Seville Commitment. FAO reaffirmed its commitment to providing robust data and analysis, innovative financing solutions, and initiatives such as the Financing for Shock-Driven Food Crises Facility and the Hand-in-Hand Initiative to support its Members in their efforts to transform agrifood systems.

During the FFD Forum in-depth review on international trade as an engine for development, Campolina highlighted the need to maintain open and predictable trade in food and agricultural inputs and warned that fertilizer scarcity ahead of upcoming cropping seasons - particularly in the Southern Hemisphere - could have serious global consequences if not addressed.

During the FFD Forum discussion on private business and finance, FAO highlighted the need to de-risk investments through better data, innovative financial instruments and concessional finance.

On the sidelines of the Forum, FAO participated in several side events, including one on stabilizing agrifood systems amid trade, energy and market volatility where David Laborde, Director of FAO's Agrifood Economics and Policy Division, stressed the importance of keeping trade open, stronger international cooperation, and coherent trade, energy and agricultural policies to protect the most vulnerable in times of global volatility.

At a side-event on financing disaster risk reduction, FAO's Adriano Campolina highlighted evidence that resilient agrifood systems and anticipatory action significantly improve performance under hazard conditions, calling for a shift in financing toward prevention-focused investments. During another side event, focused on bridging global and local finance, Campolina drew attention to the need to close the global financing gap including by using public banks to de-risk investments, creating fiscal space through tools such as debt-for-development swaps, and better aligning financing efforts, using instruments such as the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.