A strategic partnership to transform agricultural finance in Africa
Mobilizing French expertise in the service of rural resilience
During the Business Forum of the Africa Forward summit in Nairobi, the French Development Agency (AFD), the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, Crédit Agricole Assurances, ZEP-RE and ACRE Africa have announced the signing of a structuring partnership aimed at facilitating access to agricultural financing in Africa.
This strategic alliance addresses a major challenge: millions of African smallholders remain exposed to climate shocks without adequate financial protections. Every year, drought, floods or crop diseases threaten crops and the livelihoods of entire families.
An integrated and innovative approach
The partnership combines three complementary pillars to create a resilient ecosystem:
- Parametric insurance protects farmers’ incomes in the event of a climate disaster, providing quick and predictable coverage based on objective data.
- Digital solutions enable accurate risk assessment and facilitate access to credit through advanced modeling tools and satellite data analysis.
- Integrated finance connects smallholders with the resources needed to invest, grow and build resilience.
An ecosystem of expertise mobilized
This initiative mobilizes a set of actors recognized for their expertise in agricultural finance, climate insurance and digital solutions. Crédit Agricole Assurances is particularly committed by seconding a project manager and providing experts for specific missions.
ZEP-RE and its subsidiary ACRE Africa, key players in the regional insurance and reinsurance market, guarantee a deployment adapted to local realities and in close collaboration with banks, microfinance institutions and agricultural value chains.
Towards a more resilient African agriculture
As stated by Véronique Faujour, General Secretary of Crédit Agricole S.A. and General Delegate of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation: "There can be no sustainable agricultural financing without sustainable protection. By mitigating risk, we make the investment possible and sustainable.”
This partnership demonstrates how French expertise can catalyze concrete, replicable and high-impact solutions. By combining insurance, data, and financing, it creates the conditions for smallholders, especially women entrepreneurs, to access the credit they need to thrive.
In a context where African agriculture concentrates a significant share of economic resources and jobs, this innovative approach paves the way for a sustainable transformation of agricultural markets and increased resilience to climate challenges.
