Beyond Food Security: How Agriculture Investment Can Create Jobs and Improve Global Nutrition

The World Bank finds that investing in nutritious food value chains can deliver a “double win” by creating jobs and raising incomes while improving nutrition, with opportunities spanning fruits and vegetables, dairy, aquaculture, legumes, processing and cold chains. For governments and development partners, the priority is to combine public investment, blended finance, better infrastructure and private capital, while measuring agricultural projects by jobs, incomes and nutrition outcomes rather than production alone.

The World Bank's policy brief, Investing for Job Creation and Nutrition "Double Wins" in Agriculture, argues that agricultural investment can do more than increase food production. If governments, development banks and private investors direct capital toward nutritious food value chains, the same investment can create jobs and raise rural incomes while making healthier food more available and affordable. This matters as governments face tighter budgets, high unemployment and persistent malnutrition at the same time.

The economic burden is already enormous. Undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are estimated to cost 2–3% of global GDP each year, equivalent to US$1.4–2.1 trillion, while overweight and obesity impose costs estimated at 2.19% of GDP. Unhealthy diets more broadly cost economies around 5.8% of GDP. Yet financing is becoming harder: official development assistance fell 23.1% in 2025, the annual nutrition financing gap is around US$13 billion, and 75 of 119 low- and middle-income countries were in or at risk of debt distress as of March 2026.

Where Can Agriculture Create Jobs and Better Nutrition Together?

The report identifies four major investment pathways: nutritious food production, food processing, storage and distribution, and public procurement. The strongest opportunities include fruit and vegetable production, dairy aggregation, aquaculture and small-scale fisheries, wholegrain and fortified-staple processing, and legume production.

For governments focused on employment, nutritious crops can be particularly attractive. They can require two to six times more labor than cereal crops and potentially create more than one additional full-time equivalent job per hectare. Depending on local conditions, nutritious crops can also generate three to 14 times more income per hectare than staples such as rice.

Fruit and vegetables illustrate the opportunity. Recommended consumption can cost as much as 50% of household income in low-income countries, compared with about 2% in high-income economies. East African evidence shows labor requirements ranging from around 100 person-days per hectare for mangoes to 250–300 for tomatoes and leafy vegetables. Irrigation can double or triple labor demand by allowing farmers to produce across multiple seasons.

Why Cold Chains Could Unlock Millions in Rural Income

Producing more nutritious food will have limited impact if large quantities are lost before reaching consumers. Better storage, refrigeration, transportation and market infrastructure are therefore essential.

The report estimates that low- and middle-income countries could save 144 million tonnes of food annually if their cold-chain capacity reached levels comparable with high-income countries. Post-harvest losses currently reduce the incomes of around 470 million smallholder farmers by up to 15%.

This creates investment opportunities in refrigerated transport, cooling facilities, warehouses, aggregation centers and logistics services. Seafood provides a clear example: around 35% of fish globally is lost to spoilage.

However, cold-chain infrastructure can require large upfront investment while creating relatively few direct jobs. Development institutions should therefore measure its broader benefits, including reduced food losses, higher farmer incomes, increased processing and lower seasonal price volatility.

Can Government Purchasing Power Build Stronger Food Markets?

Public procurement could become another powerful policy instrument. Governments already purchase food for schools and other public institutions. Linking this spending to local farmers and agribusinesses can create predictable demand while improving diets.

School feeding is estimated to generate about 1,377 formal jobs for every 100,000 children served, with around 95% in catering. Home-grown school feeding is estimated to generate US$9 in benefits for every US$1 invested and increase school attendance by around 8%.

The model nevertheless requires careful financing. Feeding 100,000 children can cost approximately US$3 million to US$15 million annually in low- and middle-income countries. Governments therefore need multi-year procurement plans, clear nutritional standards and domestic sourcing strategies that give farmers and businesses enough confidence to invest.

What Should Governments, Investors and Development Banks Do Next?

The report highlights substantial opportunities across dairy, seafood, fortified foods and legumes. Small-scale dairy systems can support an estimated four to 17 jobs per 100 litres of milk collected, processed and marketed daily. In contrast, a dairy hub can connect roughly 1,000 smallholders to organized markets.

Aquaculture can also be employment-intensive. Evidence from Egypt suggests that every 1,000 metric tonnes of fish production can support around eight hatchery and feed-mill jobs and 120 fish-farm jobs. Meanwhile, the Rwanda-based Africa Improved Foods investment reportedly generated more than 15,000 indirect jobs.

For private companies, these sectors offer opportunities in farming, processing, refrigeration, logistics, inputs, technology and food distribution. But risks remain. Weak consumer demand can undermine projects, poor electricity and roads can raise costs, export-oriented production may create jobs without improving domestic nutrition, and livestock or fisheries expansion can create environmental pressures. Women can benefit strongly from nutritious-food value chains, but commercialization can also push them out unless projects deliberately protect their participation.

For governments and international development partners, the priority should therefore be to crowd in private capital while reducing investment risks. Blended finance, guarantees, first-loss capital and smaller financing instruments can help nutritious-food SMEs, cooperatives and farmers access credit.

The broader recommendation is simple: agricultural projects should no longer be judged only by tonnes produced or money invested. Governments, MDBs and DFIs should measure jobs, incomes and nutrition outcomes together, using comparable indicators such as jobs created per US$1 million invested. Combined with better roads, electricity, cold chains, food-safety regulation and predictable market policies, this approach could turn agriculture into a stronger tool for simultaneously addressing malnutrition, rural poverty and employment.