The Moringa fund is the world’s first investment vehicle dedicated to agroforestry with high social and environmental impacts in Latin-America and Sub-Saharan Africa. While its final objective is to raise 100 M EUR, it has already gathered a blend of public and private investors for a total amount of 51.4. M EUR and is now ready to launch its first investments. The main objectives of the fund are (i) to develop sound agroforestry projects providing a commercial return to its investors; (ii) to have a positive environmental impact (climate change mitigation and adaptation, soil improvements, biodiversity conservation, etc.); (iii) to increase the livelihoods of farmers and local communities. The main models targeted are sylvopastoralism, permanent crops under shade trees, and intertwined or mosaïc agroforestry.

While numerous publications describe the economic, environmental and social benefits of agroforestry projects, few detail the advantages of agroforestry from an investor point of view. This article present and discusses key arguments for agroforestry projects in comparison to conventional agriculture and forestry investments. Advantages can be summarized as follows: (i) diversified revenue and market sources (ii) increased yields thanks to synergies involved in agroforestry (iii) maximization of revenues for a given area of land (iv) reduced costs thanks to well designed partnerships and outgrower schemes with farmers (v) positive impacts on climate change, soil, water, biodiversity, etc. and reduced environmental risks (vi) better resilience of investments (vii) increased farmer and community livelihoods, less social risks (viii) reduced land grabbing issues (ix) potential for revenue from environmental services.