Food Security in CEE: Where Does Resilience Become Investable?

Blog by Semi Hakim, Co-Founder at Kök Projekt

Food security is increasingly becoming a question not only of agricultural production, but of resilience: how well food systems can withstand climate volatility, water stress, geopolitical disruption, infrastructure challenges, and increasingly fragile supply chains.

At CEE4Impact Day, this topic will take centre stage in a panel discussion led by Semi Hakim, CEO and Co-Founder of KÖK Project. The conversation will explore where food-system resilience in Central and Eastern Europe becomes investable, and which challenges are best addressed through venture capital, corporate investment, infrastructure finance, or blended and public capital.

Ahead of the event, we asked Semi to share his perspective on the region's most pressing food-security challenges, the investment opportunities emerging from them, and why building a more resilient food system requires different forms of capital working together.

1. What do you consider to be the most overlooked food-security challenge in Central and Eastern Europe?

For me, it is resilience rather than production capacity alone. CEE is an important agricultural region, but increasingly has to manage climate volatility, water stress, input dependence, fragmented value chains, and geopolitical exposure at the same time. The challenge is keeping production economically viable and adaptable under these combined pressures.

2. Could you highlight one fact or data point that demonstrates the urgency of these challenges?

The latest JRC crop monitoring shows severe heat and water-deficit impacts across countries including Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, and western Romania, with local crop failures possible in the worst-affected areas. Across the EU, forecasts for some summer crops have fallen as much as 14% below the five-year average. This makes climate adaptation an immediate economic issue rather than a long-term sustainability discussion.

3. What distinguishes Central and Eastern Europe from other regions when it comes to food-system resilience and food security?

CEE combines major agricultural capacity with unusually diverse farm structures, uneven modernization, and much more direct exposure to geopolitical and infrastructure disruption. Romania alone accounted for almost one-third of all EU farms in the latest agricultural census, with Poland accounting for another 14%. At the same time, the region includes highly industrialized agricultural operators and sits directly alongside Ukraine, raising questions of food-system resilience, infrastructure, and reconstruction.

4. Looking ahead over the next three to five years, where do you see the most promising investment opportunities in food-system resilience?

I would watch farm-level climate adaptation and resource efficiency: biological inputs, water efficiency, soil technologies, precision decision tools, and technologies that allow producers to maintain yields while reducing dependence on increasingly expensive or volatile inputs. The strongest opportunities will be those that improve both resilience and farm economics.

5. Could you share one concrete example of an investment that illustrates how capital can contribute to food-system resilience?

The EBRD’s €100 million financing package for MHP in Ukraine is an interesting example of how capital can strengthen food-system resilience beyond simply financing growth. The investment supports energy security, production efficiency, and diversification while helping maintain a major regional food producer through wartime disruption. It also illustrates why food security requires different forms of capital alongside venture investment.

6. You will be leading the Food Security in the Impact World panel at CEE4IMpact Day. Who will you be joined by, and what can the audience expect from the discussion?

I will be joined by Sávio Pinheiro, CEO of Grupo Multcom; Boye Hartmann of Grupo Multcom Europe ApS; and Kamilla Rácz, Senior Associate at Tilia Impact Ventures. Together, they bring different perspectives on the food system — from business building and corporate investment to impact investing and venture capital.The audience can expect a candid conversation about where capital can make the biggest difference — and how to turn CEE’s food-system challenges into investable opportunities.

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