Africa Agri-food Development Programme (AADP) 2025 for Irish and African Agri-businesses

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Applications are open for Africa Agri-food Development Programme (AADP) 2025. The Africa Agri-Food Development Programme (AADP) is Ireland’s flagship initiative supporting the role of the private sector in sustainable food systems development.

It acts as a catalyst to enable Irish and African businesses to explore and sixteen exciting opportunities to bring their expertise to Africa – to develop new markets and to contribute to strengthening mutual trade between Ireland and Africa.

Through matched grant funding the program offers Irish and African agri-businesses of all sizes an invaluable opportunity to develop and harness the potential from innovative partnerships with companies in sub-Saharan African countries.

It enables businesses to manage their financial risk and to use their expertise and resources to work on projects jointly, to deliver significant positive impacts for local communities in African countries.

The AADP, which opens once a year for funding applications to support projects and feasibility studies, enables Ireland’s agri-food sector to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals that aim to tackle poverty, eradicate hunger, fight inequality, and make real and sustainable changes that better the lives of the world’s most vulnerable communities.

Africa Agri-food Development Programme (AADP) Grant Types

Feasibility Study grants

The Feasibility Study grant is open to applications from Irish private sector organisations and from eligible African countries, for projects which seek to explore commercial concepts and market opportunities that can contribute to the sustainable transformation and development of Africa’s agri-food system.
Applications for Feasibility Studies will be accepted for solo projects (i.e. to be delivered by a single organisation) or for projects to be delivered in partnership between two organisations.

Full Commercial Project grants

The Full Commercial Project grant is open to joint, partnership-based applications from Irish and African private sector organisations, for innovative, scalable and impactful revenue-generating projects. The aim of the full project grant is to support the sustainable transformation and development of Africa’s agri-food system, and to contribute to a programme of mutual trade and exchange of knowledge between Ireland and Africa.
Applications for Full Commercial Projects must be developed jointly by the African and Irish applicants in the partnership.

Type of business

All applicants must be agri-food businesses that have been registered/incorporated in Ireland or one of the 19 eligible African countries, for at least 24 months prior to submitting their AADP application.

Businesses can be of any size or structure, including:

Micro enterprises	SMEs
Companies	Sole traders
Cooperatives	Farming groups
Partnerships	Social enterprises
Registered commercial farming networks	Any other structure

Eligible African countries for Africa Agri-food Development Programme (AADP)

The eligible African countries are:

Botswana	Cóte d’Ivoire	Ethiopia
Ghana	Kenya	Lesotho
Liberia	Namibia	Nigeria
Malawi	Mozambique	Rwanda
Senegal	Sierra Leone	South Africa
Tanzania	Uganda	Zambia
Zimbabwe

Proposal requirements for Africa Agri-food Development Programme (AADP)

All proposals must:

Be commercial in nature
Be implemented in one or more of the 19 eligible African countries
Demonstrate how they will contribute strongly to the sustainable development of the food system, including alignment wherever possible with priority areas of Ireland’s international development policy, A Better World, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, within the African country or countries chosen
Explain clearly why public funds are essential to finance the initiative, including to leverage or access other sources of finance in future
Show why the applicant or applicants are well suited to deliver on the proposed project, with reference to their experience, knowledge and skills, and how these relate to the project objectives, activities and deliverables
Demonstrate that all applicants have appropriate governance, financial management and fraud prevention systems in place
Demonstrate how the project intends to share, develop and/or leverage mutual expertise between Ireland and Africa in the specific project area
Indicate how the project intends to generate or strengthen mutual trade between Ireland and Africa

Supporting Documentation

All applications must be accompanied by supporting documentation, including:

an Irish Tax Clearance Certificate – which all applicants, including African applicants, must apply for and receive from the Irish Revenue Commissioners for inclusion with their application
a project budget with breakdown of spending, funding source, activities and equipment
a project implementation with calendar of main steps and activities required to deliver the project objectives
a plan for collaboration over the timeline of the project

Please see the checklist in the relevant application form, as the Feasibility Study grant and Full Commercial Project grant have different requirements.

Successful AADP funding applicants will be encouraged to engage with Irish and other national and international NGOs on various aspects of the projects, where possible. For example, project design, community engagement and mobilisation, or training and extension.

Please note that applicants seeking funding for a Full Commercial Project must source a partner business themselves. Neither the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), nor the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) are in a position to match Irish and African companies for the purpose of this Programme. Nor can the AADP itself act in place of a partner for AADP-funded projects.

What AADP grants cannot be used for

AADP funds cannot be used to fund the manufacture, development or sale of weapons, tobacco, alcohol or gambling activities
AADP funds cannot be used to support the production of fossil fuels
AADP funds cannot be used to support activities that contribute to deforestation (i.e. the conversion of a forest to another land use through the long-term reduction of tree canopy cover to below the minimum 10% threshold), or forest degradation (i.e. the reduction of the capacity of a forest to provide goods and services)
AADP funds will not be provided to companies or commercial activities that do not comply with international standards and conventions regarding: human rights, the environment, corruption, or labour laws; and where the company cannot demonstrate clear goals and ongoing measures to address these problems
AADP funds will not support projects which do not conform to animal welfare standards as determined by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine of Ireland
AADP funds cannot be used for any capital expenditure in Ireland without additional prior written approval