World Bank: Agriculture Holds Key to Food Security, Job Creation

Agriculture must move beyond simply feeding the world and instead become a central engine for job creation and economic development, according to World Bank Group President Ajay Banga, speaking Wednesday at the AgriConnect forum during the World Bank and IMF 2025 Annual Meetings.

In a candid address, Banga warned that the world is heading toward a major employment crisis, particularly in developing nations, and that agriculture must be reimagined to absorb the looming workforce and ensure food security for a growing global population.

“The question is no longer just how to grow more food,” Banga said. “It’s about how to turn that growth into a business, one that lifts smallholder farmers, creates jobs, and drives inclusive economic development.”

Banga outlined a stark forecast: over the next 10 to 15 years, an estimated 1.2 billion young people from developing countries will enter the workforce. Yet current trends suggest only 400 million jobs will be available.

“That gap will either propel global growth or fuel instability and migration,” Banga said, adding that job creation has become the World Bank’s central mission.

While the private sector is essential for long-term employment, Banga emphasized that governments must lay the foundation, especially in lower-income economies, by investing in infrastructure, regulatory reform, and de-risking tools that attract private investment.

Among five sectors identified as job-growth engines, infrastructure, healthcare, tourism, high-value manufacturing, and agribusiness, agriculture stands out, Banga said, for its dual ability to feed the world and employ millions.

Food demand is projected to rise more than 50% by mid-century, yet productivity in many emerging markets remains hampered by poor infrastructure, fragmented markets, and lack of access to finance.

“Africa holds 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land,” he said. “Latin America produces enough food for over a billion people, but logistics and transport challenges persist. In Asia, smallholders dominate, they are a latent force that technology and capital can unleash.”

Banga noted that roughly 500 million smallholder farmers produce 80% of the world’s food, yet most remain trapped in subsistence farming due to limited access to electricity, storage, training, and financing.

Only 10% of these farmers have access to formal credit,  a major barrier to scaling up.

To tackle these issues, the World Bank is rolling out a new agriculture strategy centered on raising smallholder productivity, and linking farmers to value chains, as well as protecting them from exploitation and land loss due to debt or lack of insurance.

The Bank aims to double its agricultural investment to $9 billion annually by 2030, and mobilize an additional $5 billion in private capital and co-financing.

Banga called for reforms across land rights, seed quality, food safety, irrigation networks, rural roads, and electrification, essential components to transform agriculture into a scalable business.

The World Bank president also emphasized the role of digital transformation as the “glue” of the new agricultural ecosystem.

Low-cost AI tools are already helping farmers diagnose crop diseases, optimize fertilizer use, and anticipate extreme weather. Secure digital payment systems and data records are helping farmers build credit histories, reduce risk, and unlock financing.

“This is the virtuous cycle we want to build,” Banga said. “With the right ecosystem, even the smallest farmer can be part of a larger, profitable network.”

Banga pointed to a successful initiative in Uttar Pradesh, India, where infrastructure investment, digital tools, and farmer cooperatives were combined in a unified system that raised incomes and improved productivity.

“This model is replicable globally, but only if governments, the private sector, and development partners work in alignment,” he stressed.