• Public interventions in agricultural and rural finance are common over the world to overcome the many supply and demand constraints inherent in agricultural finance. • Various instruments are used according to country’s context, but their efficacy depends largely on the depth of State involvement in enabling a sustainable ecosystem for financing agriculture. • Effectiveness relies in particular on a better articulation between multiple entities through solid institutional constructions at different levels, macro, meso and micro to reach more difficult audiences. • For most African countries, efforts should focus on making the regulatory framework more incentive-based, mobilizing and combining market and non-market-based financial and non-financial tools in a more holistic perspective.