Andrew Vitelli

While rural advocates have stressed the limits of private sector financing, a coalition of agriculture and rural advocates see a key role for PPPs.

The government has turned to the private sector to back 38 projects in drinking water, sanitation, dams and irrigation.

The guarantees from the World Bank’s credit and political risk insurance arm will go to the country’s agriculture and infrastructure bank, with Standard Chartered Bank signing $500m in term loans.

Deteriorating US infrastructure threatens the country’s position as a leader in agricultural production, more than 200 leading agricultural groups have said.