The Growth Case
The OECD and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations identify Africa as one of the world's most important growth regions over the next decade. Africa's growth potential in agriculture stems from its sheer market size, abundance of resources, and established market projections and policy targets.
Africa's food market is projected to grow from its current level of approximately $280 billion to more than $1 trillion by 2030. The continent possesses approximately 60% of the world's uncultivated arable land, and a young and growing population providing ample labor resources.
Sector stakeholders have established ambitious goals: increasing agrifood production by 45%, tripling intra-African agricultural trade, and reducing post-harvest food losses by 50%.
The Challenges to Overcome
Despite this vast potential, there are sobering challenges Africa must overcome to realize the desired agricultural outcomes:
- Hunger crisis — over 300 million Africans face hunger daily.
- Low productivity — the average African farmer produces only one-third of the output of an Asian farmer, and less than one-tenth of an OECD farmer.
- High dependency on food imports — Africa spends approximately $65 billion annually on food imports, and net imports of basic food items by Sub-Saharan African countries are projected to increase 55% by 2035.
- Massive financing gap — the sector faces an annual financing gap exceeding $100 billion.
- Climate vulnerability — most agricultural systems in Africa are rain-fed, making them susceptible to droughts, floods, and other climate change impacts.
- Underinvestment — only 4% of investment is channeled to agriculture, and only 3% of global development funding is steered to the sector.