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AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016 Progress towards Agricultural Transformation in Africa AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ii Preface iii Acknowledgements v Acronyms vi Chapter 1 2 The role of agricultural transformation within Africa’s economic development process Chapter 2 24 Strengthening the continental agricultural agenda and accountability framework - The Road from Maputo To Malabo Chapter 3 48 Driving Economic Transformation Chapter 4 76 Sustainable Intensification for Resilience Chapter 5 108 Agricultural Productivity through Intensification and Local Institutions Chapter 6 128 Getting More for Farmers from Post-Harvest to Market Chapter 7 150 New Ways Of Financing African Agriculture Chapter 8 172 Modernization of Agriculture through Digital Technology Chapter 9 202 The Roles of Agricultural Research Systems, Advisory Services and Capacity Development and Knowledge Transfer Chapter 10 234 Achieving Food Security and Nutrition Chapter 11 252 Putting it all together - Recommendations and Conclusions Agricultural Data 260 AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016 i FOREWORD Over the last decade, millions of small family farms that are needed to make the transformation of this in Africa have experience big changes. These farms sector a reality. While acknowledging the progress are the continent’s main source of food, employment, that many countries have made toward this end, and income. Many African governments have put ag- especially the ones that were quick to embrace the riculture back to the top of the development agen- African Union’s Comprehensive African Agriculture da, and from a growing revenue base, they have Development Program, the report minces no words increased the proportion of their national budgets about how much farther these countries and others going to this vital sector. Private companies have have to go. invested heavily in Africa’s agriculture value chains in recent years, paving the way for a renaissance This message is especially important for the many in Africa’s agri-food systems that multiplies the op- countries of sub-Saharan Africa where agriculture tions for farmers in terms of the seeds they plant, remains the predominant sector of the economy, ac- the fertilizers they use, the markets they can now tap counting for 25 percent or more of gross domestic into, and the information services now available to product (GDP). A key issue for these countries, one help them manage their farming activities. Agricul- that is hotly contested in recent years, is what strat- tural growth in Africa has also expanded livelihood egies are most appropriate for their agricultural de- opportunities for millions of people now engaged in velopment. Some have questioned whether it is pos- the growing off-farm stages of the agri-food system. sible to achieve a Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Offering a glimpse of future success, these advanc- Africa based largely on dramatic increases in grain es have helped inspire a new vision for Africa, one in yields. What we have learned together over the last which farming realizes its potential to help make the 10 years is that production is one piece of the puzzle. continent sustainable and hunger free. Farmers across Africa need better access to finance, markets, and an enabling policy environment that af- Much more must be done, however, to sustain and fords them the social protections many of us across deepen the agricultural transformation process that the world take for granted. has started in Africa, as laid out in the Malabo Dec- laration and the Sustainable Development Goals As the first President of AGRA, and the current chair- (SDGs). The continent is still faced with many chal- man of the Board of Trustees of the African Fertilizer lenges such as food insecurity, emerging effects of and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), I have per- climate change and rampant land degradation make sonal experience and greatly value AGRA´s determi- these challenges especially daunting particularly as nation to keep smallholders at the center of Africa´s rapid population growth and rising urbanization in- agricultural transformation and to create the condi- crease the pressure on agriculture to deliver more tions that are essential for these farmers to thrive. and better food. But each of these challenges also I urge AGRA to maintain its commitment and work represents an opportunity to strengthen agricul- with African governments and institutions, and the ture, turning it into a multiplier of inclusive economic private sector to forge the partnerships that are nec- growth. My hope is that this incisive new report on essary to achieve food security in Africa. recent progress—from the Alliance for a Green Rev- olution in Africa (AGRA) and its partners—will stimu- late a more profound and impassioned debate about the kinds of future investments and other measures Dr. Amos Namanga Ngongi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Africa Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership ii AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016 PREFACE Africa is making steady progress towards agricul- publication has also maintained its two section for- tural transformation. In the past decade there has mat: a detailed narrative that addresses various fac- been dramatic transformation in different countries ets of the publication’s theme, and a data section and various localities. There is a noticeable upward that presents country-level agriculture and economic shift in expenditure on agriculture by national gov- growth data which reveal important trends in African ernments in African countries. African governments agricultural development. have reaffirmed their commitment to prioritizing agri- culture in their development agendas and are invest- The 2016 Agriculture Status Report has as its main ing an increased proportion of their budgets in the objective to: (i) highlight major trends in African agri- sector from a growing national revenue base. There culture, the drivers of those trends, and the emerging is evidence of faster growth in agricultural produc- challenges that Africa’s food systems are facing in tivity, improved nutrition, and greater job expansion the 21st century; (ii) identify policies and programs even in the non-farm segments of their economies. that can support the movement of Africa’s farming The private sector is increasingly investing in ag- systems from subsistence-oriented towards more riculture, and the foundations have been laid for a commercialized farming systems that can raise pro- renaissance in Africa’s agriculture, one powered by ductivity, increase incomes, generate employment the enormous progress increasingly evident in farm- and contribute to economic growth; (iii) identify areas ers who are gaining more options in the seeds they that enable better targeting of investment resources plant, in the fertilizers they use, and in the markets to increase agriculture productivity; (iv) identify the available to purchase their produce. These glimpses necessary conditions, appropriate technologies, and of success offer an inspiring new vision of a future institutions that can propel and catalyze African agri- Africa in which farming as a struggle to survive gives cultural transformation; (v) examine the past and the way to farming as a business that thrives. The pro- present role of public and private sector investment cess by which an agri-food system transforms over in agriculture, and the success factors that can be time from being subsistence-oriented and farm-cen- scaled up to accelerate transformation; and (vi) ex- tered into one that is more commercialized, produc- plore how agricultural transformation can contribute tive, and off-farm centered is taking place in Africa. to solving the reality of rural poverty, low productivi- Much more remains to be done to sustain these ty, food insecurity, malnutrition, unemployment, and gains and truly drive the agricultural transformation lower income among the population in countries in needed for Africa’s development, and to ensure a sub-Saharan Africa. These objectives have been ad- better life for all of its people as laid out in the Mala- dressed in the 11 chapters of the Report. bo Declaration and in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The role of Africa agricultural transformation is to change today’s rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa This is the fourth volume of the Africa Agriculture Sta- into tomorrow’s prosperity, through sustainably and tus Report series focusing on, “Progress towards Af- significantly increasing the productivity of smallhold- rican Agricultural Transformation”. The 2016 Report er farmers, and the power and transformative effect has tracked the progress made in the last decade of agriculture to sustain broad-based, inclusive and with the MDGs and the Maputo Declaration as criti- equitable sustainable economic growth. This is the cal benchmarks, through to the current status, con- aspiration of this 2016 Report. sidering the Malabo Declaration and the projection and trajectory towards 2030 in line with the SDGs. The Report has maintained the original objective of producing an annual series that provides an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of emerging issues and challenges being faced by Africa’s smallhold- er farmers. The series allows African scholars and Dr. David S. Ameyaw development professionals, and their colleagues in Head of Monitoring and Evaluation non-African countries, to contribute practical and AGRA. evidence-based recommendations and share knowl- edge that

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