Financing Rural Infrastructure: Priorities and pathways for ending hunger

The report identifies storage/cold storage, decentralized renewable energy, feeder roads, and irrigation as critical rural infrastructure for ending hunger. It argues that while these assets are essential for increasing agricultural productivity and farmer income, they face significant financing barriers due to high perceived risks and low population densities in rural areas. The authors propose a mix of donor aid, public spending, and private capital, utilizing innovative instruments such as availability payments, shadow tolls, blended finance, and viability gap funding to make these projects commercially viable and sustainable.

• The global infrastructure deficit is projected to reach USD 90 trillion by 2030, with rural needs often overshadowed by urban investment priorities.
• Storage and cold storage infrastructure reduce post-harvest loss, which the FAO estimates affects about one third of food produced for human consumption globally, totaling approximately 1.3 billion tonnes annually.
• Decentralized renewable energy (DRE) is identified as a critical tool for rural food security, particularly as 1.3 billion people lack electricity, with 85 per cent living in dispersed rural communities in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
• Feeder roads show a stronger correlation with poverty alleviation and agricultural productivity than high-quality tarmac roads; in China, the cost-benefit ratio for national GDP was four times higher for feeder roads than for high-quality roads.
• Irrigation infrastructure can more than double agricultural productivity on a per-hectare basis compared to rainfed agriculture.
• To attract private capital to rural projects with low revenue potential, the report suggests 'availability payments' where the government pays a fixed amount based on the asset's performance rather than user fees.
• Blended finance and impact investors are highlighted as viable options for DRE and other rural projects that have high development impacts but subpar financial returns.
• Viability Gap Funding (VGF) is recommended as a one-time grant to unlock additional private capital for projects that are socially important but not commercially viable on their own.
• The report emphasizes the need for 'intermediate infrastructure'—such as logistics, transport services, and training—to ensure that physical 'hard' infrastructure investments actually translate into food security gains.

APA

Turley, L., & Uzsoki, D. (2018). Financing Rural Infrastructure: Priorities and pathways for ending hunger. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/financing-rural-infrastructure.pdf

Chicago

Turley, Laura, and David Uzsoki. Financing Rural Infrastructure: Priorities and pathways for ending hunger. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2018. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/financing-rural-infrastructure.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Turley |first1=Laura |last2=Uzsoki |first2=David |title=Financing Rural Infrastructure: Priorities and pathways for ending hunger |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=December 2018 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/financing-rural-infrastructure.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{turley2018financing, author = {Turley, Laura and Uzsoki, David}, title = {{Financing Rural Infrastructure: Priorities and pathways for ending hunger}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/financing-rural-infrastructure.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }