The agribusiness sector faces challenges all along the value chain, from input suppliers to farmers, processors and brokers.
Growing demand
Farmers and food companies need financing to become more productive and better prepared to help meet the nutritional demands of a growing global population while advancing rural development. Agribusiness must become more innovative to be more efficient; more inclusive, diverse and fair to attract a capable workforce; and more environmentally sustainable to, among other things, manage the risks posed by a changing climate.
With the global population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, the pressure to increase agricultural output to meet the world’s food, fuel, fiber and industrial needs will intensify. Latin America has the potential to play a growing role in meeting those needs in the coming years, thanks to some of its natural advantages.
An IDB report (The Next Global Breadbasket: How Latin America Can Feed the World) explains that the region has a third of the world’s freshwater resources—the most per capita of any developing region—and 25 percent of the world’s potentially suitable land for rainfed cultivation. It also has enormous biodiversity. According to the World Bank, the region is home to 34 percent of the world's plant species and 27 percent of mammals, which makes it a biodiversity “superpower” and lays the groundwork for advancements in medicine and agricultural science.
Yet the region still faces many challenges to achieve sustainable growth in agricultural, animal protein, dairy or intensive crops’ production.