Presented at the Seminar on Responsible Agricultural Investments in Developing Countries: How to Make Principles and Guidelines Effective? Organized by Swedish FAO Committee & SIANI
African Bioenergy and Biofuels Business Assessment opinion on RAI Principles, presented by Bo Göransson
1. Responsible agricultural investments
in developing countries
Swedish FAO Committee
25 March 2014
Bo Göransson
ABBBA
African Bioenergy and
Biofuels Business Assessment
2. • Starting point: Investments are
needed. ”How”, not ”if”
• Trees and forests: Utilize, develop,
prevent. Stoves, cars, game corridors,
waste
• 3 years. Small and with no money.
Matchmakers (we thought…..)
3. What is out there?
• Money, both international and local
• Ideas and needs
• Demand : Growth, urbanization
• Policies, guidelines: IFC, FAO etc
• Also ABBBA. ”Stolen with pride”. More feasibility
than assessments.
4. But…….
• Money is not used. Not ”bankable”
• Big business “self contained”.
• Forest industry shell shocked.
• The small are -just small.
• Banks risk averse
• CAP + RED = Inv/Trade barriers. True?
• Different standards for different crops?
5. Policies for investments. The
same song sheet, but…
• Who cares or owns? Investors, NGOs, FAO, media,
countries, people?
• Individual ownership/tenure or stronger
ownership of communal land?
• Sanctions. Case of Ethiopia
• Transparency. Case of Gambella. Role of Banks, IFI,s
donors, NGOs, media.
• Sweden in the 19th century: Farmers robbed. Laws,
farmers org., surveyors
7. Quo vadis?
• Level the playing field for investments -
remove trade barriers
• Main actors must act. Role of pension funds,
Swedfund, Business Sweden?
• New instruments or directives. Guarantees?
• The big and the small must act together
and…….
• ……..be local and persistent
• ABBBA: Matchmaker or midwife?