The International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Bank signed a framework agreement on Tuesday, 13 October, in Bangkok, aimed at increasing their joint investments in rural economies and food systems. The arrangement is intended to facilitate the preparation, financing and monitoring of projects focused on employment, agricultural productivity and resilience to climate shocks.
The move follows a sharp rise in their financial cooperation. Volume of IFAD co-financing with the International Development Association, the World Bank arm focused on the poorest countries, rose from about 646 million dollars in 2021 to 1.56 billion in 2025, according to figures released by the Fund.
The agreement does not provide for a new overall numerical envelope.
The change concerns working methods first. The two institutions plan to identify more systematically operations that could receive joint financing, and then to support them throughout the investment cycle. The framework facilitates common arrangements for technical assistance, procurement, financial management and disbursement, as well as environmental and social monitoring.
The cooperation is also meant to help smallholder producers access markets and private capital in order to develop their activities and create jobs. It draws in particular on AgriConnect, a World Bank Group initiative that aims to support 300 million smallholder producers by 2030. It also extends Water Forward, whose goal is to improve water security for up to one billion people by the same deadline.
In Nigeria, the AgriConnect compact launched at the end of September, for example, aims to improve food security for nearly three million people and create 2.56 million jobs by 2031, according to IFAD.
Lesotho illustrates the operations the two institutions want to extend. The Fund cites a national programme of 70.5 million dollars that has already, according to its assessment, led to the creation of nearly 1,500 jobs and the adoption of climate-adapted farming practices by more than 106,000 people. Agrometeorological services reportedly benefited more than 900,000 people.
The new agreement is set for five years, with automatic renewal for an additional five years. Cooperation between the World Bank and IFAD dates back to 1978, and each institution retains its own policies, financing decisions and accountability requirements.