BRENDAN JACOBS: SA should use G20 presidency to put African agriculture on the map

Amid heightened uncertainty in global trade and geopolitical relations, SA’s presidency of the Group of 20 (G20), which began in December 2024 and runs until November 2025, presents a pivotal opportunity. This moment enables African countries to bring agriculture, and its broader economic role, into global conversations that shape development policy, climate adaptation, and trade integration.

Africa’s presidency of the G20 arrives at a time when the continent faces the dual pressure of ensuring food security for a rapidly growing population while remaining globally competitive. The G20’s three core task forces, for inclusive socioeconomic development;  food security; and AI, data governance and innovation for sustainable development, align closely with the priorities facing Africa’s agricultural sector today.

Africa holds about 64% of the world’s remaining arable land and a growing, youthful workforce. These are core assets. Yet, the region remains food insecure. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2024, the prevalence of undernourishment in Africa has risen from 16% in 2015 to 20.4% in 2023. This trend contrasts with declines in Latin America and stagnation in Asia. Contributing factors include extreme weather, lingering post-Covid disruptions, conflicts and sharp increases in the relative price of food.

While efforts to enhance food security are under way, they often fail to tackle local needs and priorities. The G20 presidency provides a platform to reframe Africa’s agricultural development strategy to focus on productivity, sustainability and inclusivity. It also offers a space for multilateral partnerships to rethink how finance, innovation and policy intersect to support agricultural transformation.

Africa’s participation in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is particularly promising. Unlike past industrial eras, Africa has the opportunity to leapfrog into modern agricultural systems through technologies such as AI, precision farming and digital marketplaces. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides a valuable framework to integrate these technologies and promote intra-African trade in agricultural goods.

However, adoption is not without its hurdles. Digital infrastructure, skills gaps and financing mechanisms must be addressed. Ensuring that rural smallholder farmers benefit from digital agriculture requires co-ordinated support from governments, financiers and the private sector.

Public–private partnerships play an instrumental role in driving scalable, sustainable progress. From aggregators to banks and rural service providers, multi-stakeholder collaboration enables the mobilisation of expertise and resources where they are needed most. Financial institutions, for example, can work with value chain players to improve market access, extend financing and incentivise technology adoption at farm level.

To further support this agenda, the FAO notes that targeted investments of $52bn annually from 2015 to 2030 could reduce undernourishment rates to 10% in Eastern and Central Africa, and to 5% in other regions. These projections are possible when public and private resources are effectively aligned to close yield gaps and climate-proof the sector.

There is also a need to reallocate existing public spending across extension services, seed and fertiliser support, mechanisation, irrigation and rural infrastructure, not just increase spending. When done strategically, this approach maximises GDP from agri-food systems, reduces rural poverty and supports healthier diets without placing further strain on national budgets.

Africa’s agricultural story must be told, not as one of challenge but one of potential. The G20 presidency is an opportunity to position African agriculture as an investable, transformational engine of economic growth. With the right partnerships in place, from government policy co-ordination to innovative financing and cross-border trade facilitation, the sector can deliver both resilience and inclusive prosperity.

• Jacobs is head of Agriculture for Business and Commercial Banking at Standard Bank SA