Development Finance for Food and Nutrition Security: Delving Deeper into the Nexus

A central contribution of the paper is to highlight the importance of development finance heterogeneity in shaping FNS outcomes. Different types of financial flows exert distinct effects, which vary across contexts and institutional environments. In this regard, governance quality emerges as a critical mediating factor that influences both the direction and magnitude of these effects. Evidence suggests that remittances have a positive impact on FNS, with stronger effects in countries characterised by higher governance quality. Similarly, the impact of FDI on FNS is found to be conditional on institutional strength, while food aid outcomes depend significantly on programme design, context, and governance conditions. 
The paper also underscores that the FNS–development finance nexus remains rather underexplored, particularly in vulnerable regions such as SSA, where food insecurity persists despite decades of development interventions. It further situates these findings within broader debates on development finance, including the role of public versus private actors, structural transformation, and the global financial architecture. Overall, the analysis suggests that integrating development finance heterogeneity with governance quality considerations can provide deeper insights into FNS outcomes and support the design of more effective, targeted policy interventions. 
The paper concludes by highlighting the need for renewed policy attention to both financing mechanisms and institutional quality in addressing global food security challenges in the coming years.