04Building Value
Agriculture & Food Security
Feeding Africa. Financing Growth.
Agriculture is Africa's largest employer and the foundation of food security, rural livelihoods and agro-industrial development — and it remains constrained by fragmented value chains, thin access to finance, climate exposure and barriers to regional trade.
This Platform moves agriculture from subsistence to commercially viable, investment-ready enterprise.
Platform
4 of 14
Building Value — Mobilising capital and delivering the assets, enterprises and industries on which African economies are built.
Practice engine
FIT
Purpose
Agriculture remains the largest employer across Africa and the foundation of food security, rural livelihoods and agro-industrial development. Yet the sector continues to face persistent challenges including low productivity, fragmented value chains, limited access to finance, climate vulnerability, post-harvest losses and barriers to regional trade.
The Agriculture & Food Security Advisory Platform supports the transformation of agriculture from subsistence to commercially viable, investment-ready and value-driven enterprises.
We advise clients across the agricultural value chain, helping them structure investments, strengthen governance, improve market access, manage regulatory obligations and build resilient food systems capable of supporting Africa's long-term economic development.
Why this matters
Food security is no longer solely an agricultural issue; it is a matter of economic resilience, public policy, national security and regional integration.
Africa possesses vast arable land, a growing population and significant opportunities to become a global food producer. Realising this potential requires coordinated investment in production, processing, logistics, financing, technology and markets.
Governments, producers, processors, investors and development partners increasingly require advisers who understand the interconnected nature of agricultural systems and can help structure commercially viable and institutionally sustainable solutions.
The Agriculture & Food Security Advisory Platform exists to meet this need.
What we do
We provide strategic advisory across the entire agricultural ecosystem.
Agricultural Investment
- Agribusiness investment structuring
- Agricultural finance
- Investment due diligence
- Joint ventures
- Agricultural PPPs
- Development finance
Agricultural Production
- Commercial farming
- Out-grower schemes
- Cooperative development
- Contract farming
- Seed systems
- Irrigation programmes
Agro-processing
- Food processing facilities
- Value addition
- Cold chain infrastructure
- Processing contracts
- Industrial agriculture
- Export-oriented production
Agricultural Trade
- Commodity trading
- Warehouse receipt systems
- Regional trade
- Export markets
- Trade compliance
- AfCFTA opportunities
Natural Resources
- Land governance
- Water rights
- Sustainable agriculture
- Climate resilience
- Biodiversity stewardship
- Environmental compliance
Agricultural Technology
- Precision agriculture
- Digital agriculture
- AI-enabled farming
- Agricultural data governance
- Smart irrigation
- Supply chain traceability
Agricultural Research, Innovation & Knowledge Institutions
Africa’s agricultural transformation depends on the research institutions that develop its seed systems, crop science, soil and climate knowledge. These institutions are legally complex: regionally constituted, donor-financed, multi-country in operation, and holders of intellectual property and genetic resources of continental significance. We advise them as institutions, not merely as grant recipients.
- Regional and national agricultural research organisations: constitution, host country agreements, legal personality, privileges and immunities, and governance boards
- Research consortium and network governance: membership arrangements, sub-regional structures, decision rights and dispute resolution among member states and institutions
- Donor and DFI grant compliance: grant and sub-grant agreements, flow-down obligations, procurement rules, audit and reporting, eligible cost regimes, and remediation of audit findings
- Intellectual property in agricultural research: plant breeders’ rights and variety protection, patents and utility models, research data ownership, publication and open-access obligations
- Genetic resources and benefit sharing: material transfer agreements, access and benefit-sharing arrangements, treaty-based multilateral systems, farmers’ rights and the protection of indigenous knowledge
- Biosafety, biotechnology and regulatory approval: confined field trials, environmental release, seed variety release and certification, and national biosafety compliance
- Technology transfer and commercialisation: licensing research outputs to seed companies and processors, spin-outs, royalty and benefit-sharing arrangements, and public-interest licensing
- Institutional strengthening: legal frameworks for research funding, staff and mobility arrangements across member states, procurement systems and integrity frameworks
Signature solutions
Defined pieces of work that address the needs this platform meets most often. Each can be scoped and commissioned on its own.
Agricultural Investment Readiness Review
The Ligomarc Advocates Bankability Method, agriculture application. What stands between an agribusiness and commercial or development capital — aggregation and offtake, land tenure, climate exposure and insurability, cooperative governance — identified, priced and scheduled for remedy before the investor arrives.
Agro-processing Accelerator
The full path to a commercially viable processing facility: siting and land, licensing and standards compliance, offtake and supply agreements, equipment contracting and the financing structure to fund it — so raw output becomes a product with a market.
Food Security Strategy
For governments and public institutions: an integrated food security and agricultural transformation programme — policy instruments, institutional roles, financing architecture and an implementation sequence with accountability attached to each stage.
How we deliver
- Sector and market assessment
- Investment and institutional analysis
- Legal and commercial structuring
- Financing and implementation support
- Governance and operational strengthening
- Market access and regional trade integration
- Long-term sustainability and resilience
Representative mandates
- Advising on national agricultural transformation programmes
- Structuring investments in commercial farming and agro-processing
- Supporting agricultural PPPs
- Advising DFIs financing agribusiness
- Developing governance frameworks for cooperatives
- Supporting cross-border agricultural trade
- Advising investors in food manufacturing and processing
Illustrative. Client names and commercial details are withheld where confidentiality obligations apply.
Why Ligomarc
Agriculture is no longer simply about production. It is about building competitive value chains, attracting investment, strengthening institutions, expanding regional markets and ensuring long-term food security.
Ligomarc combines expertise in finance, manufacturing, logistics, technology, ESG, tax, infrastructure and public policy to support clients across the agricultural value chain. We help transform agricultural opportunity into commercially sustainable and institutionally resilient enterprises.
Platform leadership
Regional & continental frameworks
The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, the Malabo Declaration and the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan adopted under the Kampala Declaration; the AfCFTA and its rules of origin as applied to agricultural goods; EAC sanitary and phytosanitary and standards frameworks; the COMESA Simplified Trade Regime; AU Agenda 2063 food security aspirations; national land, seed, food safety and cooperative legislation.
Contribution to the African Purposes
Directly supports African Family Businesses through cooperatives, producer companies and family farming structures. Honours African Culture & Heritage through customary tenure, indigenous crops and origin protection for African products. Advances African Continental Integration through regional food trade and AfCFTA-aligned agricultural commerce. Advances African Institutional Stewardship through regulatory design and food-system governance.
Who we serve with this
Discuss a agriculture & food security mandate.
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