AgriConnect and Djibouti: Creating jobs and boosting food security in a resource-constrained region

Across the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, food insecurity remains a major challenge. One in six people in the region faces food insecurity, while 42 percent cannot afford a healthy diet. As populations grow and incomes rise, food demand is projected to rise by 67 percent by 2050, widening the gap between what the food sector needs to deliver and what it can currently provide. At the same time, climate change, water scarcity, and conflict are making it increasingly difficult to produce enough food sustainably. But the region does not need to choose between producing more food and conserving scarce resources. The World Bank Group’s Building Food Security, Creating Jobs report points to a different path: transform agrifood systems to produce more food, create jobs, and use scarce resources more efficiently. Achieving this will require reducing food loss, adopting climate-smart technologies, improving water productivity, strengthening storage, logistics, and trade, and creating stronger links between farmers and markets. In the process, it will also mean creating a better business environment and mobilizing more private investment. This approach matters not only for food security, but also for jobs. The agrifood sector already supports 63 million jobs across the region, nearly three in ten workers. With the right investments and reforms, it could generate millions more, particularly by strengthening value chains and creating opportunities beyond primary production. AgriConnect is the World Bank Group’s approach to turning these priorities into action. It brings together public policy, investment, private finance, and partnerships around value chains with the greatest potential for advancing food security and jobs. Djibouti offers a compelling example of what this approach can look like in practice. The country imports 90 percent of its food, but by focusing on strategic agrifood opportunities, it can create more and better jobs and strengthen food security. Djibouti has a real chance to turn scarcity into opportunity by investing in what it can grow competitively. The stakes are high. In 2026, 16 percent of Djibouti’s population faced acute food insecurity, a share expected to rise to 25 percent by year-end. Unemployment remains at 39 percent despite a decade of solid growth. Agriculture contributes only 4 to 5 percent of GDP, but it is a lifeline for rural communities. Farmers and pastoralists operate under exceptionally difficult conditions. Water and arable land are scarce, annual rainfall is low and erratic, and climate shocks are becoming more severe. Weak infrastructure and technical skills, limited access to finance and markets, and an underdeveloped regulatory environment further constrain productivity and private investment. The Djibouti AgriConnect Compact, the first in the greater region, lays out a path forward for the country. Aligned with the government’s Vision Djibouti 2035, it brings together investment, financing, and structural reform around three strategic value chains: Livestock remains the backbone of Djibouti’s agricultural economy. It accounts for three-quarters of agricultural GDP and supports livestock transit and re-exports to Gulf markets. In 2024, the livestock terminal at the Port of Djibouti handled more than 1.2 million animals while operating at less than 20 percent of capacity. High-yielding breeds, better feed, veterinary services, processing, and cold chains could increase productivity and capture more value locally. Horticulture offers an immediate domestic market opportunity. Local production meets only 10 percent of demand, while vegetable imports exceeded US$35 million in 2021. Climate-smart greenhouses and water-efficient production could enable year-round supplies. Tomato yields, for example, can reach 300 tons per hectare under greenhouse cover, compared with 40 tons in open fields. Dates are the smallest value chain today but offer substantial scope for growth. Djibouti produces only about 110 tons annually while importing roughly 2,300 tons. The plan is to reach 5,850 tons after 2030, enough to reduce the import gap and position Djibouti as an exporter. Across all three value chains, the constraints are similar: weak connections between producers and buyers, limited cold-chain and processing capacity, uncertain land tenure, and scarce credit. Nearly three-quarters of Djiboutian households lack access to banking services, while lenders often view agriculture as inherently risky. AgriConnect addresses these constraints together rather than separately. It aligns shared infrastructure with reforms to land, licensing, certification, skills, and finance. This shift means livestock can gain value in feedlots rather than losing value in transit, and tomatoes and other crops can earn more when grown and ripened in a greenhouse rather than in drought-stressed fields. And in the process, young Djiboutians have more opportunities to build careers in the agritech sector. Many of these solutions are already being tested under World Bank Group-funded projects. The Agri-Food Value Chain Development Project is investing in basic infrastructure and access to financing for producers and enterprises. Under the DRIVE project, the goal is not simply to help pastoralists survive the next drought but to give them the financial tools to protect their animals, earn more, and invest in healthier, more productive animals. It is also reinforcing Djibouti’s role as a regional livestock trade hub. At the same time, IFC, the World Bank Group’s private sector arm, is helping to strengthen the foundations for private investment. At the port, it is advising Tiryaki Agro, Türkiye’s largest agri-food exporter, on a new grain storage facility to ease bottlenecks for staple commodities passing through Djibouti. On finance, it is working with the Central Bank of Djibouti on reforms to the movable collateral-registry and leasing framework so small businesses can access the finance they need to procure logistics equipment more easily. Scaling these efforts will require significant resources and sustained coordination. An estimated US$185–245 million is needed across the three value chains by 2030. The ambition is to reach 10,000 farmers and pastoralists and create and improve at least 5,000 jobs. Across the region, targeted World Bank Group-supported investments are addressing this challenge and already delivering results, providing a foundation for AgriConnect. In Afghanistan, the Food Security Project is supporting 15 agri-SMEs, reaching over 7,000 farmers, linking them to formal market contracts, and generating over 1,000 jobs. In Morocco, productive alliances enabled 730 producers, 40 percent of whom are women, to access more reliable, higher-value markets while reducing their dependence on intermediaries. In Pakistan’s Punjab province, large-scale investments in irrigation infrastructure are already helping more than 100,000 farmers gain more equitable and reliable access to water, increase yields, and shift to higher-value crops. In Yemen, investments in fisheries have supported nearly 4,000 fishers and fish processors, including 800 women, and created or improved more than 11,000 jobs. The lesson is clear: raising production alone is not enough. Farmers need markets; businesses need infrastructure and finance; investors need predictable policies; and countries need resilient trade and water management systems. AgriConnect brings these pieces together around the value chains with the greatest potential for food security and jobs.