Agriculture in sub-saharan Africa
Agriculture is one of the biggest challenges of our time, closely connected to hunger, poverty, deforestation, biodiversity and climate change.
These problems are especially felt in Africa. More than 60% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population is smallholder farmers, and agriculture account for 23% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP. Yet the agricultural potential of Africa remains largely untapped.
Sub-Saharan Africa has historically had low productivity in both labour (food per hour, affecting poverty) and land (food per acre, affecting biodiversity). The average crop yields across Africa are half that of India.
But, investment is targeting the strong productivity gain potential of the sector. Valuations of African agricultural startups working to eliminate poverty, climate change and deforestation has increased from $42M in 2019 to $424M so far in 2022.
