By Michael Omotosho |
Civil society organisations under the Stop Financing Factory Farming Coalition have called for greater transparency, accountability, and community participation in agricultural financing as the African Development Bank (AfDB) begins its 2026 Annual Meetings in Brazzaville.
The coalition warned that Africa’s growing agricultural investment drive must prioritise resilient, community-led, and sustainable food systems rather than industrial models that could worsen environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and rural poverty across the continent.
The call comes amid the AfDB’s implementation of its flagship Feed Africa Strategy, which estimates that transforming agriculture across the continent will require between US$315 billion and US$400 billion over the next decade. The Bank itself has committed US$24 billion to stimulate additional public- and private-sector investments.
The strategy promotes large-scale agricultural value chains, agro-industrialisation, expansion of livestock production, and blended finance initiatives to mobilise investment at scale. Recent AfDB-backed initiatives, including Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones and co-financing platforms with international financial institutions, indicate that agricultural lending is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.
Civil Society Warns Against Unsustainable Agricultural Models
However, civil society organisations argue that without stronger safeguards and transparent financing mechanisms, development finance could deepen unsustainable food production systems that place increasing pressure on land, water resources, biodiversity, and rural livelihoods.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Roselilly Ushewokunze, Executive Director, Food Justice Network said decisions around development finance would shape Africa’s agricultural future for decades.
“Development finance decisions made today shape agricultural systems, land use, and rural economies across the continent for decades,” she said. “Agricultural finance must therefore be designed to scale food systems that strengthen food sovereignty, climate resilience, biodiversity, and community wellbeing while supporting locally rooted and sustainable food systems.”
The coalition also expressed concern over the expansion of industrial livestock farming, which they say has been linked globally to rising greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and mounting pressure on smallholder farmers and rural communities.
According to studies cited by the groups, between 3,558 and 4,279 tonnes of antimicrobials were reportedly used across 13 to 27 African countries between 2015 and 2019, raising fears over the growing use of antimicrobials in industrial livestock systems.
Salome Kahiu noted that harmful impacts can emerge indirectly when investment strategies focus heavily on rapid production growth and export competitiveness without adequately considering environmental sustainability, animal welfare, biodiversity protection, public health, and the well-being of smallholder farmers.
Calls for Agroecology and Community-Centred Financing
As Africa grapples with worsening climate shocks, debt pressures, food insecurity, biodiversity decline, and water stress, civil society groups insist that the debate should focus not only on the volume of agricultural finance being mobilised, but also on the type of food systems being promoted.
The organisations urged the AfDB Group to:
- Stop financing industrial livestock production models linked to environmentally destructive land conversion and unsustainable water use;
- Prioritise support for smallholder farmers, women producers, pastoralists, and Indigenous communities;
- Invest in agroecological and climate-resilient farming systems;
- Improve transparency and accountability in agricultural lending portfolios and investment mechanisms.
Opeyemi Elujulo, Policy and Campaign Coordinator, Stop Financing Factory Farming Coalition, said the financing choices made today would determine the future of Africa’s food systems.
“The debate is not simply about agricultural growth, but about what kinds of food systems are being shaped and locked in through public development finance,” Elujulo said. “The financing decisions made now will influence whether Africa’s food future is centred on resilient local food systems, biodiversity protection, sustainable water use, and community wellbeing, or increasingly concentrated industrial models that deepen environmental and economic vulnerabilities.”
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