Agriculture sector is Africa’s gold mine

Agriculture is by far the single most important economic activity in Africa. The World Bank projects that agriculture and agribusiness in Africa will grow to be a US$1 trillion industry by 2030.

It provides employment for about two-thirds of the continent’s working population and for each country contributes an average of 30 to 60 percent of gross domestic product and about 30 percent of the value of exports.

According to United Nations figures, in 2050, Africa’s population is estimated to hit over 2.5 billion, this means the demand for food is going to increase hence agriculture will play a pivotal role.

The region holds about half of the world’s fertile and as-yet-unused land and yet it spends US$25 billion annually importing food. It also uses only a tiny percentage of its renewable water resources.

Africa is endowed with a wide diversity of agro-ecological zones.  These zones range from the heavy rain-forest vegetation with bi-annual rainfall to relatively sparse, dry and arid vegetation with low uni-modal rainfall.

This diversity is a tremendous asset. African farm yields are among the lowest in the world. However, some countries have experienced a strong GDP growth in agriculture, such as Zambia, Liberia, Mozambique and Ethiopia.

A broader economic transformation is necessary to shift the current paradigm facing agriculture in Africa.

In most cases, urbanisation and economic growth have resulted in new opportunities for local agricultural producers.

However, in Africa, this share of the market mainly belongs to foreign companies. Imports of food staples have been rising sharply, and domestic agriculture has so far failed to increase supply in response. Raising productivity in agriculture is vital to transformative growth, not just because it has the potential to expand markets by displacing imports, but also because agricultural growth is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in non-agricultural sectors.

Africa produces all the principal grains corn, wheat, and rice in that order of importance. Corn has the widest distribution, being grown in virtually all ecological zones. Highest yields per acre are recorded in Egypt, Mauritius and other areas where production is under irrigation. Tea, coffee, cocoa, and grapes are all grown in Africa. Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique are the largest producers of tea, while Ethiopia, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, and Madagascar are the major producers of coffee.

Cocoa is essentially a tropical forest crop. Its cultivation is concentrated in western Africa, with the principal producers being Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. All these crops are largely grown for export. Cattle, sheep, and goats form the bulk of livestock raised. Except in South Africa, most of these animals are raised essentially for meat. Sheep in the north and south are also kept for their wool; South Africa alone produces half of the entire continental production. Rubber is produced principally in Nigeria and Liberia. Tobacco is widely cultivated as an export crop in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa.

Sugarcane is also widely grown  and major producers include Zimbabwe, South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius, and Sudan.

How can African countries improve their agricultural sector and use it as an engine of economic growth? The strategy will depend on each individual country, but there are a few common measures that, when put together, certainly increase the chances of a country to ignite a virtuous circle of growth fuelled by agriculture: A critical step into modernising agriculture is the adoption of mechanisation in replacing human labour.

Most of Africa is still far behind this stage. In sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural mechanisation has either stagnated or retrogressed in recent years.

Over 60% of farm power is still provided by human muscle, mostly from women, the elderly and children. Agriculture subsidies make an important factor of imbalance in the international market.

Although Africa has one of the lowest costs of production of agricultural commodities in the world, it loses competitiveness in the international market as wealthier countries subsidise their famers, sometimes to the extent that the selling price of crops is lower than the production cost. African countries have to put the right policies in place to promote investment into agriculture.

Patson Chapeyama is a cutting edge business startup  and Immigration Specialist. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Immicom Immigration and Business Solutions. 

Email: patson@immicom.co.za, www.immicom.co.za.