According to FAO, Africa’s agricultural productivity is low, as the continent’s crop yields have lagged behind the rest of the world. Although more than half of the labour force work in agriculture, the labour productivity is very low, as the agriculture ‘value added’ per worker in Sub-Saharan Africa is less than half the global average. In addition, an increasing amount of pressure on natural resources and the environment is being felt in the Continent, due to its population growth as well as issues around scarcity and degradation of land, water, and the agrobiodiversity of their ecosystems.
Climate change is now causing significant damage to several areas in Sub-Saharan Africa by further increasing vulnerability and exacerbating productivity losses, as well as the degradation of natural resources. These issues and trends point to the urgent need to move towards greener and climate smart agriculture. However, a shift towards sustainable agricultural development cannot be achieved if we leave rural areas behind, which are still underdeveloped in most West African countries.
Why develop green agriculture?
The stakes are high and range from attracting new types of jobs to creating new businesses (transport, recycling, fertilizers, agritech, etc.), and attracting new breeds of investors. But getting these steps right could pave the way for a new era of a green economic boom for Africa.
What about the youth?
As Abdou Touré, a climate activist, said about green agriculture on RFI’s “Alors on dit quoi” program, African youth should aim to position themselves now in this sector, to seize opportunities for apprenticeships, internships, and capacity-building to develop businesses at scale. Talking about green agriculture is all well and good, but creating replicable, profitable solutions that bring this idea into fruition is even better.
Are you an agritech entrepreneur? Would you like to access new markets to boost your sales? Then discover the Green API program implemented by Orange and GIZ, and apply by October 23rd, 2023. This program aims to strengthen partnerships between digital agriculture platforms (in this case the Senegalese startup mLouma) and start-ups in the field, illustrating a means of developing green agriculture.