As businesses wake up to new opportunities of a rapidly growing food market in Africa, it is estimated that the continent’s food market will worth over $1 trillion each year by 2030, substituting imports with high value food made in Africa.
This position represents the main conclusion of the latest Africa Agriculture Status Report launched today at the 2017 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Cote d’Ivoire.
The report also noted that the power of entrepreneurs and the free market is driving Africa’s economic growth from food production.
It further explains that agriculture will be Africa’s quiet revolution, with a focus on SMEs and smallholder farmers creating the high productivity jobs and sustainable economic growth that failed to materialize from mineral deposits and increased urbanization.
Despite 37 percent of the population now living in urban centres, most jobs have been created in lower paid, less productive services rather than in industry, with this service sector accounting for more than half of the continent’s GDP.
However, the report said smart investments in the food system can change this picture dramatically if planned correctly.
Commenting on this year’s report findings, Agnes Kalibata, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which commissioned the study, said “Africa has the latent natural resources, skills, human and land capacity to tip the balance of payments and move from importer to exporter by eating food made in Africa. This report shows us that agriculture involving an inclusive transformation that goes beyond the farm to agri-businesses will be Africa’s surest and fastest path to that new level of prosperity.”
To succeed, Africa’s agricultural revolution needs to be very different to those seen in the rest of world.
This, the report said, requires an inclusive approach that links millions of small farms to agribusinesses, creating extended food supply chains and employment opportunities for millions including those that will transition from farming.
This is in contrast to the model often seen elsewhere in the world of moving to large scale commercial farming and food processing, which employs relatively few people and requires high levels of capital.
The report highlights the opportunity for Africa to feed the continent with food made in Africa that meets the growing demand of affluent, fast growing urban populations on the continent looking for high value processed and pre-cooked foods.
Furthermore, it advocates that this opportunity should be met by many of the continent’s existing smallholder farmers.
