Financing Rural Infrastructure: Priorities and pathways for ending hunger

The document identifies storage, decentralized renewable energy, feeder roads, and irrigation as the four infrastructure assets with the most robust links to ending hunger. It argues that financial viability should be viewed broadly, suggesting that government availability payments can make projects bankable even without direct user fees. The brief proposes a variety of financing tools—including viability gap funds, blended capital, and project bundling—and emphasizes the need for 'intermediate infrastructure' (logistics and transport) to link physical assets with human capacities.

• Analysis identified four specific infrastructure categories that have empirically verified relationships with promoting food security and ending hunger, yet often lack sufficient investment: storage infrastructure (including cold storage), decentralized renewable energy, feeder roads, and irrigation infrastructure.
• The document argues that 'bankability' should not be limited to assets that generate their own revenue through user fees; projects can be financially viable if governments provide 'availability payments,' which are fixed periodic payments made to private contractors who meet contractual and operational obligations.
• For storage infrastructure, recommended financing solutions include dedicated storage funds for loans or grants, preferential loans with lower interest rates and longer grace periods, targeted fiscal policies like tax exemptions, and Viability Gap Funds to attract private investors.
• Financing for decentralized renewable energy (DRE) can be achieved through accelerated green depreciation for tax breaks, investment grants for bridging capital, blended capital from impact investors, external credit guarantees from development banks, and feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for those with grid access.
• Feeder road infrastructure can be financed via availability payments, shadow tolls (government payments per user), dedicated road funds, or 'project bundling,' where a high-risk project is paired with one having a more favorable risk-return profile.
• Irrigation infrastructure financing options include availability payments (potentially linked to water-saving targets or drought contingency plans), investment grants for bridging capital, and incremental increases to user fees to cover operation and maintenance (O&M) costs.
• Physical 'hard' infrastructure is insufficient without 'intermediate infrastructure'—such as transport, logistics, extension, and standards-related services—which links physical assets to 'soft infrastructure' (human capacities).

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-policy-brief-en.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-policy-brief-en.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-policy-brief-en.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-policy-brief-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }