Cracking the Nut 2012: Attracting Private Investment to Rural and Agricultural Markets - Lessons from the 2012 Conference

As populations and food consumption are on the rise, and the world has less accessible water supplies as well as lower arable land per person, the need for increasing investment in rural and agricultural markets has become one of the most important issues of our day. These are some of the issues that spurred the interest in the learning event, held on June 25-26, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Named after its core objective, the conference, Cracking the Nut: Attracting Private Sector Investment to Rural and Agricultural Markets, focused discussions around the following five themes for which the main lessons are captured in the conference report:

• Expanding to new markets.
• Tapping new sources of supply.
• Creating effective partnerships.
• Making finance work.
• Forging positive government support.

The publication summarizes the key lessons learned from the conference, emphasizing the need for partnerships between farmers, local and international private businesses, donors, development practitioners and public officials. In addition, the publication highlights creative solutions to increasingly complex and interconnected global agricultural markets.