The Government of Guinea and the World Bank Group launched the Guinea AgriConnect Compact in Conakry on April 30, 2026, a strategic framework meant to speed up the transformation of the country's agrifood systems, strengthen food and nutrition security, create decent jobs and make agriculture a driver of inclusive growth and industrialisation.

The compact is built around the 2040 Simandou Agenda, whose first pillar names agriculture and livestock as the engines of economic diversification, export growth and job creation. It brings the Government together with the World Bank Group's three arms, the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), alongside technical and financial partners, the private sector and producer organisations. Three priorities are aligned under it: rural infrastructure, public reforms and investments, and the mobilisation of private finance.

The value chains are specific. Rice and poultry come first, chosen to strengthen food security and reduce dependence on imports, with maize and soybeans supported as strategic inputs, chiefly as feed. Fonio and mangoes are the diversification and export chains the compact also backs.

By 2030 the compact aims to deliver a significant improvement in food and nutrition security, hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in agricultural and agrifood value chains, particularly for young people and women, less reliance on imported staples such as rice and poultry products, and a realised export potential for fonio and mangoes.

"AgriConnect enables a better coordination of the World Bank Group's instruments, IDA, IFC and MIGA, to support Guinea in a profound transformation of its agriculture," said Issa Mare Diaw, World Bank Group Resident Representative for Guinea. The combination of reforms, public investment and private engagement, he said, is meant to build productive, resilient and inclusive agrifood systems that deliver food security while creating jobs.

"With the AgriConnect Compact, Guinea is taking a decisive step forward in positioning agriculture as a central pillar of economic transformation, directly linked to the opportunities offered by the Simandou corridor," said Aminata Kaba, Minister of Agriculture. Félix Lamah, Minister of Livestock, said the compact would build producers' capacity, improve access to inputs such as maize and soybeans and develop more efficient poultry and livestock value chains, while Mariama Ciré Sylla, Minister of Economy, Finance and Budget, tied it to the Simandou 2040 programme and national economic diversification.

For a Guinean rice grower or poultry farmer, the compact promises a coordinated pipeline of public works, policy changes and private money rather than scattered projects. AgriConnect is the World Bank Group's global initiative to help 300 million smallholder farmers earn more from their crops by 2030, supported by partners including the African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, Bayer and Google.

Source: World Bank