FARMING POTENTIAL
Agriculture can drive African growth under right policy reforms
Africa has the potential to feed not just itself but the world
Farmers and economists both know that to make things grow you need the right resources and the right conditions. With a uniquely diverse climate and more than half the world’s uncultivated arable land, Africa has the natural resources to drive an agricultural boom. But we have not yet created the right economic conditions. Africa has the potential to feed not just itself but the world. Yet we spend $68bn a year on food imports and this is increasing. Two-thirds of our population depend on agriculture for their livelihood, but the sector’s share of GDP is dwindling. We are failing to capitalise on our advantages, because our policies do not look at farms as businesses. At the African Centre for Economic Transformation, we think it doesn’t have to be this way. Our new report calls for a programme of deliberate and co-ordinated reforms to turn agriculture into the engine for growth and economic transformation. This would bring widespread benefits beyond the sector. A key area for chang...
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