Fact Sheet

MCC Investments Contribute 

to Long-Term Food Security

Global food prices are among the most pressing challenges to economic development and poverty reduction in 

countries around the world. MCC has been actively working with its partner countries to invest in sustainable, 

market based solutions to food security since 2005. These countries are asking MCC to fund infrastructure and 

agricultural investments needed for sustainable, market-based solutions to this issue. 

MCC responded: beginning with its first compact (grant) in April 2005, MCC has made significant rural and 

agriculture-related investment obligations, including projects in seventeen of the eighteen compact countries. All 

told, MCC has obligated nearly $3.2 billion to strengthen the agricultural and rural economies in poor countries to 

promote reliable access to sufficient, safe, and affordable food.

Country ownership prioritizes agriculture 

and rural economic development

MCC’s model enables countries to identify and request funding for their most critical obstacles to reducing poverty through economic growth. In almost all cases, countries have identified agriculture and the rural economy as 

among their top priorities for funding via an MCC grant focused on long-term economic development.

Investments all along the supply chain

Through a diverse portfolio of investments, MCC provides significant support to all aspects of the food production 

and distribution system, as well as to other aspects of rural economic growth, including transferring agricultural 

technology, securing land rights and access to rural finance, increasing access to sufficient and safe water, and 

building rural roads and other farm-to-market infrastructure, such as dry and cold storage facilities. These investments help farmers and rural businesses access productive inputs, such as seeds, water and fertilizers, overcome 

bottlenecks that hinder the ability to get produce from farm to market, and engage in higher-value production to 

ultimately bring about rural income growth.

March 20, 2009 | www.mcc.gov
MCC Investments Contribute to Long-Term Food Security , March 20, 2009 2

Examples of Investments in Food Security Among MCC Compacts

Compact Country

Agriculture and Rural 

Economic Development 

Project Investments 

(Million USD)

Total Compact Funding

(Million USD)

Percent of Compact 

Devoted to Agriculture 

or Rural Development

Armenia $213.00 $236.00 90%

Benin $206.00 $307.00 67%

Burkina Faso $417.40 $480.90 88%

Cape Verde $90.00 $110.00 82%

El Salvador $321.00 $461.00 70%

Georgia $259.00 $295.00 88%

Ghana $241.00 $547.00 44%

Honduras $72.00 $215.00 33%

Madagascar $66.00 $110.00 60%

Mali $235.00 $461.00 51%

Mongolia $5.90 $285.00 2%

Morocco $430.00 $697.00 62%

Mozambique $233.00 $507.00 46%

Namibia $46.90 $304.50 15%

Nicaragua $120.00 $175.00 69%

Tanzania $244.00 $698.00 35%

Vanuatu $54.00 $66.00 82%

Examples of MCC investments in food security

Making food available to the world’s poorest people is a complex, multi-step process. Accordingly, MCC’s compacts respond to this challenge through a variety of country-specific approaches. 

In some cases, the food security-related projects proposed and implemented by MCC compact countries involve 

several interventions across multiple links in the food supply chain:

In Ghana, the $241.5 million project on Development of Agricultural Productivity and Value-Added is providing farmer and enterprise training, enhancing land tenure security, promoting irrigation development, 

improving post-harvest handling of agricultural produce, improving credit, and rehabilitating secondary/feeder 

roads. 
MCC Investments Contribute to Long-Term Food Security , March 20, 2009 3

In Honduras, the $72.2 million Rural Development Project is composed of farmer training and development, access to credit, farm-to-market roads, and an agricultural public goods facility. 

Irrigation and water management

In Mali, the MCC $ 234.6 million Alatona project, an investment in irrigation infrastructure, is transforming a stretch of desert into a fertile crescent. 

Rural roads and other infrastructure

In Tanzania, MCC investments of $243.5 million in the transport and energy sectors will be used to upgrade ex-isting roads and add new power generation. Rehabilitation of the Tunduma-Sumbawanga trunk 

road located in western Tanzania, a fertile agricultural area, and the Zanzibar Rural Roads Activity on Pemba 

Island will increase commerce and help connect communities to markets. The Malagarasi Hydropower and 

Kigoma Distribution Activity will provide reliable power to the western region of Kigoma, attracting new investments to the region and allowing productive activities such as agricultural processing to expand. 

MCC Investments in Different Facets of Food Security

Project Categories

Agriculture and Rural 

Development 

Project Investments 

(Million USD)

Rural Roads / Other Infrastructure $1,713.8

Technical Assistance and Agriculture Technology Transfer $507.7

Irrigation and Water Management $544.5

Rural Finance $224.7

Land/Property Rights $231.9

Agricultural Research $29.4

Total $3,252.0

Secure access to land rights

In Benin, approximately $36 million will support land policy development, enable the installation of accessible and efficient public title and mapping services in rural areas and assist rural land holders to record 

their land rights. This project will contribute to more secure access to land rights and make land access more 

efficient.
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In Mongolia, the $5.9 million Peri-Urban Land Leasing Activity will introduce leases to approximately 300 

tracts of rangeland to herder groups. Because leases enhance security of tenure, it is expected that households within these herder groups will invest more of their own resources into the land, increasing their incomes by 

producing more milk and meat products.

Agricultural specialization, reinforcing comparative advantages:

In Morocco, The Fruit Tree Productivity Project ($300.9 million) will fund the intensification and rehabilitation of olive, fig and almond trees and the expansion of these crops in rain-fed areas. 

Agricultural sector development: 

A long-term investment to reduce poverty

Individual rural families and businesses participating in MCC-funded projects will see improvements in the near 

term, and even larger impacts of these interventions will emerge over the course of the next 10 to 20 years, contributing significantly to MCC partner countries’ food security. 

MCC investments in food systems are critical to helping the world’s poor provide for their families and communities today and in the future. These investments, moreover, will help them face potential future crises with greater 

capacity and confidence. The development of a more robust and productive agricultural economy will help ensure 

that MCC compact countries are better able to ensure access to affordable, safe food for the increas-ing number of 

citizens who live in urban, rather than rural, areas.

For more information on MCC investments in the agricultural sector that contribute to poverty reduction through 

economic growth, please visit www.mcc.gov.