Agriculture: Backbone of Africa’s Economies

Historically, Agriculture has been the lifeline of African economies, and today, its importance is recognized as a major sector capable of driving widespread economic transformation.

With the sector contributing approximately 22 percent of Africa’s GDP and employing over 60 percent of the continent’s labor force, this sector has a significant impact on African livelihoods and economic stability. By investing in agriculture, Africa has the potential to accelerate GDP growth, enhance food security, create employment opportunities, mitigate inflation, and address social issues such as banditry. The strategic focus on agriculture is essential for sustainable development across Africa and creating a more resilient future.

Africa has vast arable land, a favourable climate, and diverse agricultural products, which create significant opportunities for boosting productivity and exports. Despite these advantages, African agriculture has historically been underdeveloped, with many countries relying on subsistence farming practices that yield low productivity.

Investment in modern agricultural practices, such as mechanisation, efficient irrigation systems, improved seed varieties, and climate-smart farming techniques, can significantly boost crop yields and production volumes. This productivity increase can drive GDP growth by raising the agricultural sector’s output, expanding exports, and creating a ripple effect that benefits related industries, such as agro-processing, transportation, and retail. Furthermore, exporting agricultural products generates foreign exchange earnings, helping countries strengthen their economies and build reserves for economic stability.

Lets look at the many benefits of Agriculture to the continent

Guaranteed Food Security

Food security is a major issue in Africa, where millions face hunger and malnutrition due to inadequate food production, high import dependency, and limited access to affordable food. Strengthening agriculture is essential for addressing these challenges. As African countries increase food production through modernised and efficient agricultural practices, they can reduce reliance on food imports, thereby protecting themselves from global food price volatility and supply chain disruptions.

Increased food production also enables African nations to supply enough food to meet domestic demand, making food more accessible and affordable for the population. This improvement in food security reduces malnutrition, enhances public health, and supports productivity by ensuring that citizens are better nourished and able to contribute to the economy. Moreover, food security fosters resilience, allowing countries to withstand external shocks, such as climate change and geopolitical conflicts, that impact global food supplies.

Africa is blessed with a young and rapidly growing population, with employment creation becoming a crucial focus for the continent’s leaders. Labour-intensive agriculture holds enormous potential to absorb this workforce, especially in rural areas with limited employment opportunities. By shifting from subsistence to commercial agriculture and developing agro-industries, Africa can create various job opportunities across the agricultural value chain.

Agricultural development includes crop cultivation and areas like food processing, distribution, marketing, and technology services. Each area creates new roles, ranging from skilled and semi-skilled labour to entrepreneurship opportunities for agripreneurs who can drive innovation and efficiency in the sector. Additionally, as agribusinesses grow, they stimulate local economies, increase household incomes, and promote rural development. This employment generation reduces poverty and encourages the development of a stable, prosperous rural society.

Crubing banditry and social restiveness

It’s no longer news that rural poverty and lack of economic opportunities are among the root causes of banditry and social instability in Africa. Young people, who often lack education and employment, may turn to crime or illegal activities as a means of survival. This situation is especially prevalent in areas where agriculture has declined or climate change has disrupted traditional farming practices, leading to food scarcity and economic insecurity.

By creating sustainable agricultural jobs, improving rural incomes, and promoting agribusiness, Africa can address some of the drivers of banditry. A thriving agricultural sector provides young people with alternatives to crime, fostering a sense of purpose and improving community stability. Furthermore, agricultural investment brings infrastructure, education, and healthcare to rural areas, which enhances the quality of life, reduces poverty, and contributes to a culture of peace. In this way, agricultural development has a direct impact on reducing social instability, which in turn creates a safer environment for investment and long-term growth.

Reduces inflation through domestic food production

Inflation is persistent in many African countries, often driven by high food prices. Because many African nations rely on food imports, they are vulnerable to fluctuations in international prices and currency devaluation. This dependency contributes to inflation, as the cost of imported food rises with global market shifts, impacting the cost of living and reducing purchasing power.

With an increase in domestic food production, inflation is controlled by stabilising food prices. When local production meets or exceeds demand, the reliance on imports decreases, which makes food prices more predictable and affordable. Moreover, reducing food imports strengthens the local currency, as less foreign exchange is spent on purchasing food abroad. By boosting agricultural productivity, African countries can mitigate inflationary pressures, create a more stable economic environment, and improve consumer affordability, particularly for low-income households disproportionately affected by rising food prices.

Agricultural Development in Africa and Challenges

While agriculture remains a solution to economic transformation, several challenges form impediments to its progress. African farmers need more access to financing, adequate infrastructure, climate-related risks, and market access. These obstacles must be addressed to fully unlock the potential of agriculture as a catalyst for economic growth and social stability.

Finance as a Vital Ingredient

Smallholder farmers often need more financial resources to invest in quality inputs, modern equipment, or advanced techniques. Affordable financing options like microloans, subsidies, and insurance enable farmers to improve productivity.

Developing Infrastructure

Poor infrastructure, such as inadequate roads, storage facilities, and limited electricity, hampers market access and leads to significant post-harvest losses. Investing in rural infrastructure is vital for connecting farmers to markets, reducing waste, and enhancing productivity.

Understanding Climate Change in Agriculture

Agriculture in Africa is highly vulnerable to climate change, with weather patterns becoming very unpredictable, droughts, and floods impacting crop yields. Climate-smart agricultural practices, such as conservation agriculture, crop diversification, and resilient crop varieties, are essential for building resilience.

Value Chains and Access to Markets

Fragmented value chains and limited market access prevent farmers from reaching larger, more profitable markets. Developing efficient supply chains and establishing agricultural cooperatives can help farmers access markets, improve bargaining power, and increase profitability.

The Role of Private Sectors, Private Sectors, Other Investors

To fully explore the potential of agriculture, African governments, private sector entities, and development partners must work together to create an enabling environment for agricultural transformation. Some key initiatives include:

Investment in Agricultural Technology and Mechanisation

Technologies such as precision farming, improved irrigation methods, and digital platforms can significantly increase productivity. Digital solutions, including mobile apps, can provide farmers with real-time information on weather, crop prices, and best practices.

Building Capacity and Training

Vocational training and extension services are vital for equipping farmers with modern skills and knowledge, particularly for young people entering agriculture. Agripreneurship programs can also encourage youth to view agriculture as a profitable and sustainable career.

Public- Private Relationships

The relationship between governments, private enterprises, and non-governmental organisations can help develop robust agricultural value chains, expand access to finance, and promote sustainable agricultural practices.

Strengthening policy frameworks

Governments can play a crucial role by implementing policies that support rural development, improve land tenure security, and incentivise agricultural investment. Tax incentives, subsidies, and land reforms are policies that can create a more favourable environment for agribusiness.

Agriculture is at the heart of Africa’s sustainable growth and development pathway. Agriculture can transform the continent as a sector that drives GDP growth, ensures food security, provides employment, reduces inflation, and addresses social instability. By investing in agricultural modernisation, strengthening rural economies, and empowering smallholder farmers, Africa can unlock the full potential of its agricultural sector.

In doing so, Africa will secure food and jobs for its population, build resilient economies, foster social stability, and pave the way for a prosperous future. As African countries prioritise agricultural development, they set a course for economic self-reliance and create a foundation for inclusive growth that will benefit future generations.

News

Desertification Taking Up 43% of Nigeria’s Land, 40 million Livelihoods at Risk – FG

The Federal Government of Nigeria has said desertification and land degradation are threatening the livelihoods of over 40 million Nigerians and have already impacted 43% of the country’s total landmass, approximately 923,000 square kilometres.

The Minister of Environment, Mr. Balarabe Lawal, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja at a National Dialogue themed “Restore the Land: Unlock the Opportunities.”

The event was put together by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) under its Climate Change Project, with support from the Federal Ministry of Environment.

The dialogue was held to commemorate the 2025 World Desertification and Drought Day (WDD) as well as Sand and Dust Day.

Represented by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Mahmud Kambari, the minister described land degradation as a global crisis.

Lawal noted that dryland degradation had resulted in the loss of 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil globally, significantly reducing food production and threatening food security.

Citing the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Lawal said that more than two million hectares of land were lost annually to desertification, land degradation, and drought.

“In spite of this, it is estimated that 300 million hectares of land will be required to meet food demand by the year 2030,” he said.

He explained that the 2025 WDD theme emphasized the importance of investing in sustainable land management practices to prevent and reverse land degradation.

The efforts, he said, also tackled broader challenges such as economic and food insecurity, water shortages, and climate change.

Lawal stressed that achieving Nigeria’s socio-economic growth targets would not be possible without environmental protection and sustainable management of land and natural resources.

He added that the government was prioritizing environmental issues and had developed institutions, policies, action plans, programmes, and projects aimed at addressing land degradation, desertification, and related environmental threats.

In her remarks, Mrs Regina Nwaneri, Director of the Department of Desertification, Land Degradation, and Drought Management, said Nigeria, as a party to the UNCCD, remained committed to combating desertification.

However, she warned that current land restoration efforts were not at a scale sufficient to meet urgent national and global needs.

She noted that in spite of UN projections that one billion dollars was needed daily from 2025 to 2030 to combat land degradation, current investments in restoration efforts fell short of that goal.

Nonetheless, she acknowledged the Nigerian government’s ongoing investments in land restoration and drought management.

Earlier, Mr Ifeanyi Chukwudi, Senior Project Manager at CJID, stated that the centre was working with relevant ministries and stakeholders to promote scalable, policy-driven interventions.

He added that CJID was also supporting research and the media in raising awareness of drought and desertification challenges.

“We have engaged more than 500 journalists across Nigeria and the Lake Chad region to spotlight land issues and bring them to the forefront for policymakers’ attention,” Chukwudi said.

He called on the government to hold land users accountable, particularly organizations that extracted natural resources without approval, proper land assessments, or adherence to regulatory procedures.

News

Kenya’s Forgotten ‘Weeds’ Now Dominating Vegetable Menu

Indigenous leafy vegetables, which were once overlooked as wild weeds and a “poor man’s food” in Kenya are now becoming much more common – grown on farms, sold in markets, and gracing the menus of restaurants,BBC reports.

At the busy Skinners Restaurant in Gachie just outside the capital, Nairobi, one employee says demand for “kienyeji” – as all local vegetable varieties are known – is higher than for other greens.

“Many people ask for kienyeji when they come here,” Kimani Ng’ang’a tells the BBC, despite the fact the restaurant charges extra for them as he says they are harder to source.

Vegetables like cabbage, spinach, kale, and spring greens, introduced by colonial authorities before the 1960s, are more readily available and cheaper. Spring greens are known as “sukumawiki”, meaning “stretch the week” in Swahili, reflecting how they have become a daily staple.

But diners in Gachie are part of the growing wave of Kenyans who see the benefits of eating local, organically produced nutrient-rich varieties of greens.

“It detoxifies the body and is good for weight loss,” says James Wathiru, who ordered “managu” – or African nightshade.

Another person told me: “It’s all about its taste, which is better.”

According to horticulture professor Mary Abukutsa-Onyango, this trend is reflected in government data and some of the health benefits are backed by research

Over the last 10 years, production of local greens has doubled – with 300,000 tonnes produced by local farmers last year, she says.

It is a remarkable change in attitudes, given people used to look down on traditional crops as inferior – not realising they were often more resistant to diseases and pests, meaning they can be grown organically.

In the 1980s, when Prof Abukutsa-Onyango began her studies, she says she was perplexed to find them referred to as “weeds”.

“We never learnt about African indigenous vegetables. They were calling amaranth ‘pigweed’ [and] spider plant, they were calling it ‘spider weed’,” she tells the BBC.

Her postgraduate research on traditional plants was also tricky as there was no literature about them, but she persevered and now works with the government to promote them for food security.

She says managu and other local vegetables like “mrenda” (jute mallow) and “terere” (amaranth) have more essential minerals than sukumawiki, as well as “higher levels of vitamin A and C [and] antioxidants” that boost immunity and reduce the risk of disease.

Some varieties also contain protein, making them an excellent option for vegetarians. She notes for instance that 100g (3.5 ounces) of mrenda – known for its distinctive slimy texture when cooked – contains more nutrients than a similar portion of common cabbage.

The progress people like Prof Abukutsa-Onyango have made in promoting the diversity and knowledge of indigenous vegetables was acknowledged by Unesco in 2021, when the UN cultural agency commended the East African nation for the “safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage” that had been threatened by “historical factors and the pressures of modern lifestyles”.

It noted that Kenya had begun a project in 2007 involving scientists and local communities to record an inventory of traditional foods, which now includes 850 indigenous plants and their local names.

Some of these vegetables are consumed nationwide, while others are more regionally specific or associated with particular communities.

But sukumawiki, first introduced to Kenya from the Mediterranean as animal feed, is still favoured by many farmers, with more than 700,000 tonnes produced in 2023 – more than double the volume of all indigenous leafy vegetables combined.

Francis Ngiri, who used to farm in Kirinyaga in central Kenya where cabbages are a mainstay crop, explains that this is because, especially during the 1970s, those growing imported leafy vegetables used fertilisers and pesticides that damaged the local biodiversity.

Today, he tells the BBC, only the introduced varieties thrive as the soil has become too acidic to support many native species.

CREDIT – BBC

News

Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector Under Late Muhammadu Buhari’s Tenure (2015-2023)

President Muhammadu Buhari, promised in May 2015, when he assumed office, that his administration would promote self-sufficiency in agriculture and food production. The former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, described Buharism as a kind of bourgeois nationalism that is radical in the sense of being a progressive move away from domination by a parasitic elite, to one in which a nationalist and productive class gains ascendancy. Buharism also believed in its long-held principle argument against Naira devaluation as the means to improve Nigeria’s balance of trade. This is based on its premise that there are superior alternatives for relieving pressure on Nigeria’s foreign reserve.

An expression of this was the appointment of Hameed Ali, a retired army colonel, as Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, which enforced import restriction measures on 41 essential items. The reason was that the products could be produced locally and would relieve the pressure on the Naira. Some of the banned items were agricultural finished products like Rice, fertiliser, Sugar, Meat, Fish, and Poultry. This policy was also intended to create opportunities for local producers in the domestic market. While there have been highlighted successes, there have been unmet expectations, as well, especially where the projected increased production of the banned items and impact on agricultural development in Nigeria didn’t happen.

The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) was the main agricultural initiative of the government. It was formulated by the CBN and launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2015. The ABP aimed to provide farmers with agri-inputs in cash and kind. Included in this laudable initiative was also a scheme to connect farmers with off-takers, who would in turn pay fair prices. This Credit support was provided each year, ahead of the season, by the CBN and the farmers are expected to repay the obligation with their harvests, just like a contract farming model. About 4.2 million farmers are said to be registered on the programme, and participation is limited to only one hectare of farmland per farmer.

The focus of agricultural economics is mainly on increasing growth and productivity of farmers. The ABP was designed to focus on increasing the number of farmers. As existing progressive farmers are not allowed and encouraged to reach 5 hectares (highest class for small commercial farmers) there has been no growth, no increased income and therefore, no spending in the rural economies and, by extension, no employment and income for the rural poor. This policy has not reduced poverty.

The ABF scheme has not grown. One of the reasons for its lack of growth is the high rates of default in repayments from the farmers. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 76% of the beneficiaries have defaulted even though repayment can be made in kind, thereby limiting the tenor to one season. The IMF claims that the cause of default is because the recipients of the loans are not always well targeted. Corruption may have blighted the opportunity for the scheme to register experienced and committed farmers.

At the ABP launch in 2015, President Buhari was particularly hopeful that it would accelerate local rice and wheat production. Since then, we have seen an unprecedented increase in the production of rice and massive development along the rice value chain, with about 50 new large-scale milling factories established across the country. The success is impressive, and the country has benefited with sufficiency in rice, employment, and income for many tens of thousands through the value chain. However, the programme has failed to show any impact on local wheat production. The CBN has now succumbed to the age-old response of import substitution and political appeasement by launching The Brown Revolution. The Brown Revolution has to come under scrutiny because the CBN has spent over N40 billion for a one-season programme.

The CBN’s direct involvement in agricultural policies and implementation within the last 8 years is as a result of the emphasis of the Buhari administration on the conservation of foreign reserve through import restriction measures – a Buharism alternative to neo-classical economics. Agricultural developmental projects and programmes that came after the ABP, implemented by the government appear to have been an afterthought. The roles of developmental agencies and institutions like the Bank of Agriculture, may have been usurped by the CBN’s very direct involvement in their traditional roles.

Credit –

GYANT

Tag Archives: africa