Building an agro-ecosystem can promote social cohesion, promote profitable continental and global trade, and create millions of jobs for Africa. Transformation in the level of the farmer should try to increase production, improve market access and increase product margins. Public-private initiatives can ensure capacity building and infrastructure development in areas such as financing.
Africa faces a growing population as well as the challenges of low agricultural production. Climate change, short autumn periods, deforestation, deteriorating farmland, and the loss of youth in urban farming communities further hinder the ability of African farms to increase crop yields. These measures are very local. However, they can be facilitated in three ways from a Pan-African perspective;
1. Best practice sharing. Providing best practice clearing houses for farmers’ associations and governments.
2. Government support. Assist governments in developing skills and coordinating cross-country initiatives.
3. Public-private partnership initiatives. Creating the first “port of call” for large corporate and institutional investors to ensure investment effectiveness and coordination.
A Prosperous Africa Based on Comprehensive Growth and Sustainable Development, the continent needs to invest in modern agriculture for increased activity and productivity as well as take advantage of the vast potential of Africa’s blue / ocean economy. In addition, steps need to be taken to address climate change issues and other environmental factors that pose a significant threat to the agricultural sector.
Five steps for transforming Africa’s food systems from the demand side
Agricultural development practices in Africa
The mechanisms by which agricultural development promotes change in the wider economy;
1. The high agricultural productivity of labor means that agriculture employs workers in relatively well-paid rural and urban non-agricultural sectors;
2. Increasing demand for agricultural inputs and services stimulates local production and marketing of inputs such as fertilizers, production tools, and local supply of services;
3. Extensive marketing engagement of smallholder farmers in agricultural value chains stimulates commercial distribution and processing activities locally;
4. Increasing profits from agricultural production and exports finance the import of key technologies and capital that can be invested in other sectors, especially non-agricultural sectors
5. The higher income of the smallholder increases the demand for non-food items and services which, with all its multiplier effects, promotes the diversification of the rural economy.
While these new dynamics and sustainable economic growth create opportunities to improve households and reduce poverty, they are not enough to drive a development that is comprehensive and sustainable. This will require rural and structural changes. The structure of Africa’s economies has not changed significantly in recent decades.
The level of technology used and the productivity obtained is relatively low in economies, and production and exports are still largely concentrated on a relatively narrow range of raw agricultural commodities. Furthermore, despite the rapidly growing workforce and urban population, employment growth in rural areas in general, and the non-agricultural sectors in particular, has been slow, and poverty levels in these areas are relatively higher than in urban areas.
