The power
of entrepreneurship and free market economy is driving Africa’s economic
growth from food production, as businesses waking up to opportunities
of a rapidly growing food market in Africa that may be worth more than
$1 trillion each year by 2030 to substitute imports with high value food
made in Africa...
This was the main conclusion from the
latest Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR) launched at this year’s
African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Cote d’Ivoire.
According to the report, 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 materialise from mineral deposits and increased
urbanisation.
Despite 37 per cent 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. Smart
investments in the food system can change this picture dramatically if
planned correctly.
Commenting on this year’s report
findings, Dr. 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,” she said.
To succeed, Africa’s agricultural
revolution needs to be very different to those seen in the rest of the
world. It 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.
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