World Bank and IFAD to Scale Up Co-Investment in Rural Economies and Food Systems

IFAD and the World Bank have signed a new five-year Co-Financing Framework Agreement to expand joint investment in rural transformation and food systems. Here is what it means.

At a glance: Signed 13 October 2026 in Bangkok | During the 2026 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group | Co-financing with IDA up from about US$646 million in 2021 to US$1.56 billion in 2025

On 13 October 2026, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank signed a new Co-Financing Framework Agreement during the 2026 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group in Bangkok. The agreement is designed to scale up joint investment in rural economies and food systems at a moment when a large young generation is reaching working age against a backdrop of slowing growth and economic uncertainty.

The framework modernizes how the two institutions co-finance country-level investments. It commits them to identify and develop new joint operations across the full investment cycle, and to put in place common arrangements for technical support, procurement, financial management, disbursement, and environmental and social oversight.

The agreement runs for an initial five years and renews automatically for a further five, while each institution keeps its own policies, financing decisions and accountability requirements. It also advances the priorities of IFAD's 14th replenishment cycle, covering 2028 to 2030.

A PARTNERSHIP WITH GROWING SCALE

The World Bank Group is IFAD's largest multilateral development bank partner, and the volume of joint work has risen sharply in recent years. IFAD's co-financing with the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) grew from about US$646 million in 2021 to US$1.56 billion in 2025. The new framework is intended to build on that momentum and on decades of collaboration that began in 1978.

The agreement also sits alongside wider efforts to mobilize agriculture for jobs and resilience. These include AgriConnect, a World Bank Group-led initiative with the African Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, Google and Bayer, which aims to transform agriculture for 300 million smallholder farmers by 2030, and Water Forward, which seeks to improve water security for 1 billion people by 2030. The impact of joint operations is already visible on the ground. In Lesotho, a US$70.5 million national programme has helped create nearly 1,500 jobs, delivered nutrition education to 217,000 people, supported more than 106,000 people in adopting climate-smart practices, and extended agro-weather services to over 900,000 people.

"Together, the World Bank and IFAD bring the scale, reach and expertise to transform rural economies and agrifood systems," said Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group, framed the stakes in terms of opportunity for the next generation: "The next generation needs opportunity, and agriculture can be a powerful source of jobs, growth, and food security."

WHY IT MATTERS

For the agri-food sector, the agreement is a clear signal that rural transformation and food systems are moving closer to the centre of global development finance.

Larger, better-coordinated co-investment can de-risk projects, shorten the path from pilot to scale, and channel capital toward climate-smart production, entrepreneurship and job creation.

For innovators and ecosystems working on the future of food, including here in Europe, it reinforces a wider shift: food systems are increasingly seen not as a cost to be managed but as an engine for resilient, inclusive growth.

As co-investment deepens, the opportunity for agri-food innovators is to be ready, with solutions that are proven in the field and built to scale across borders.

Source: https://www.ifad.org/en/w/news/world-bank-and-ifad-to-scale-up-co-investment-in-rural-economies-and-food-systems

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