The European Investment Bank’s development arm (EIB Global) has committed $110m loan to international commodities company ETG, one of Africa’s leading agribusiness supply chain players. 

It will support modernisation of processing plants of commodities such as cashew and soy, as well as essential storage, and transport infrastructure in countries including Mozambique, Malawi, Benin, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda.

The project also supports ETG’s Farmer Extension Services (FES) program that is in line with its long-standing commitment towards promoting sustainable agriculture. These include training and technical assistance programs to support technology and knowledge transfer to smallholder farmers, as well as community-based initiatives to help farmers improve yields and adopt sustainable practices.

The initiative stands as one of the largest EIB Global financing operations for the private sector in Africa in recent years and reflects the bank’s ambition to build long-term partnerships that boost agribusiness competitiveness, foster climate resilience, and improve livelihoods across the continent.

“This partnership with ETG shows how targeted private-sector engagement, supported by EIB Global, can deliver real change,” said EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti. “By unlocking sustainable investment, we are helping smallholder farmers and rural communities build a more resilient future.”

Paul van Spaendonk, ETG Chief Treasury Officer, said: “This significant financing will accelerate our efforts to enhance agricultural competitiveness and food security across Sub-Saharan Africa. With this facility, we can drive impactful projects of varying sizes under a single umbrella, reaching more communities, more quickly.”

Vigliotti reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to strengthening agriculture worldwide, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): “Agriculture is at the heart of global development.” 

“The way we produce, distribute, and finance food will determine not only food security but also climate resilience, economic growth, and the livelihoods of millions of people. The EIB plays a key role to support this transformation.”

Since 1965, when the EIB approved its first loan to support agriculture outside Europe, the Bank has financed more than 3,000 agricultural projects beyond the EU, for a total of over €85bn — with more than 80% of this volume committed in the past decade, reflecting the Bank’s growing focus on agricultural development and food security. This approach is reinforced through close cooperation with UN agencies like FAO, IFAD, and WFP. Joint projects blend financial capacity with technical expertise, ensuring impact even in fragile and low-capacity contexts. 

For example, a landmark €500m loan to IFAD, is already scaling rural development and food security in over 70 countries across geographies, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, at the Financing for Development (FfD4) summit in Seville in July this year, the EIB also deepened its collaboration with FAO and WFP through a new Memorandum of Understanding.