Each year, Africa spends far too much on food imports –approximately US$35 billion in 2016. Left unchecked, thefigure is expected to surge to US$110 billion by 2025.

This is a real paradox, given that more than 60 per cent ofAfrica’s most active population is engaged in agriculture. Africa
contains 65% of the world’s most arable uncultivated land, andit has an abundance of fresh water supplies.

Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina
President
African Development Bank

However, modern technology-driven agriculture that is resilient
to climate change, job and wealth creating, and healthpromoting, is the cornerstone of the continent's transformation.
Our goal at the African Development Bank, is to radicallytransform Africa’s agriculture sector and make the continent selfsufficient in food; and put an end to food insecurity andmalnutrition that casts a shadow over our children's futures.

Foreword

The Bank is actively engaged in supporting the emergence ofagricultural clusters and genuine value chains for the
dissemination of technologies, better access to water andirrigation, and financial resources. Transforming Africa’s
agriculture value chains require a paradigm shift in perceptions.
For too long, subsistence agriculture has been associated withdrudgery, poverty, and suffering. This too must change. At theAfrican Development Bank, we believe in, support, andchampion the cause of a new generation of wealth-creating
young Africans with the right resources, to help shape the futureof Agriculture on the continent.
Being awarded the 2017 World Food Prize has been a greathonour. It is my earnest hope that this recognition will primarily
help draw global attention to the nutrition and health needs ofAfrica; the outstanding work of our bank; and open doors forincreased donor and investor commitments that accelerate thepace of agricultural development and lift millions out of poverty.
This is my vision. This is my hope. This is our collective destiny.
Today, let us cultivate a new African agriculture that will bear
fruits for harvest tomorrow. I am convinced more than everbefore that Africa’s destiny is to feed the rest of the planet andnot the other way around.

1F

eed Africa is an initiative to transform
African agriculture into a globally competitive, inclusive and business-oriented sector- one that creates wealth, generates gainful
employment, and improves quality of life. The
initiative also seeks to scale up existing andsuccessful initiatives across Africa and beyond.

partners, research institutions and civil society
organisations. With these partners, Feed Africa will
fulfil the CAADP goals by helping to:• End extreme poverty• Eliminate hunger and malnutrition• Make Africa a net exporter of agriculturalcommodities• Move to the top of key agricultural value chains

Feed Africa reflects the commitments made under
the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), Africa’s policy
framework for agricultural transformation, wealthcreation, food security and nutrition, economic
growth and prosperity for all. Feed Africa works
closely with a wide range of parties that include
national governments, regional economic communities, the private sector, farmers, development

The Feed Africa strategy is a forward-looking
one. It seeks to ensure that key outcomes beyond
the growth of the agricultural sector include foodsecurity, and that they support inclusive growththrough an increased representation of womenand youth. It also targets improved resilience toclimate variability and shocks.

FEED AFRICA will focus on

2

3

4

Ending ofextreme poverty

Eliminating
hunger andmalnutrition

Making Africa
a net exporter ofagriculturalcommodities

Moving to the topof key agriculturalvalue chains

Contribute to alleviating
poverty through job
creation and providing
sustainable livelihoods

Food security for all
Africans that are‘undernourished’

Eliminate large scale
imports of commodities
that can be produced in
Africa, and selectively
begin to export

Become the #1 ineither processing or
the overall value
chain, by market
share by value

Zero hunger
and malnutrition

Africa’s net tradebalance ~$0 bn

Africa share of market
value for processedcommodities ~40%
(Example for cocoa
grinding)

Target by 2025

Aspiration

Goals

1

1

~130 million lifted outof extreme
poverty

The 2003 Maputo Declaration and the 2014 Malabo Declaration articulate the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme commitments.

3

Why Agricultural
Transformation in Africa?

A

Climate change and variability trends increasingly make the need for transformation moreurgent. Africa is already disproportionately
affected by the impacts of climate change
because of its over-dependence on the rain-fed
agriculture sector. African farmlands andrangelands are becoming more and moredegraded, and this is causing farmers to facedeclining yields.

griculture is an integral part of theAfrican economy and, arguably, thedaily lives of the majority of Africans. It
accounts for over 51 percent of jobs across thecontinent.1 Despite its central role, the agricultural
sector represents only a quarter of African GDP
due to the low productivity of the sector. For
example, Africa’s share in global production of
cocoa beans is 73 percent. In comparison, its
share in ground cocoa is 16 percent. Africa’s cereal
yields are only 41 percent of the international
average. Private sector infrastructure, beyond production, remains relatively under-developed.

Falling commodity prices for a broad range ofnatural resources are making it increasingly
necessary for African nations to diversify theirexports and reduce current account deficits.
Increased food demand and changing consumption habits driven by demographic factors likepopulation growth and urbanisation are leading torapidly rising net food imports. These foodimports are expected to grow from the US$35
billion that they stood at in 2015 to over US$110
billion by 2025.

The lack of productivity of African agriculture
exacts a high human and economic cost. Highrates of poverty prevail, especially in major agroecological zones like the sub-humid Guinea
Savannah and the semi-arid Sahel regions wheremore than 50 percent of people live on less than
US$1.25 per day. More than 223 million people
are under-nourished in Africa.2 Low productivity
also makes African agriculture uncompetitive. If
nothing is done, the population under extreme
poverty will rise from the 2015 figure of 420 million
to 550 million by 2025.

Rising imports are indicative of a broader
opportunity to transform agriculture as abusiness. The scale of agricultural commodity
imports that can be produced locally demonstrates that demand exists, if a vibrant private
agribusiness sector in Africa can be stimulated toservice it. These food imports represent a diverse
set of markets, both in key primary commodities
as well as processed goods and agro-alliedindustries worth more than US$100 billion inrevenue per annum. They deliver food security,
create employment, and produce broad-based
economic growth.

Security of land tenure and good governanceremain major challenges across the continent.
Most African countries have basic land tenure lawsthat are incomplete and poorly enforced, deterring
private investment. Although, women remain the
primary users of agricultural land in most African
communities, their access to land is, on average,
less than half that of men.
2
3

AGRA, ‘Africa Agriculture Status Report,’ 2013.
FAO, IFAD and WFP. 2015. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015. Meeting the 2015 international hunger targets: taking stock of uneven progress

4Agriculture remains a major source of income in Africa.
However, untapped potential has resulted in persistentpoverty and deteriorating food security

Gap between employment and income
Agriculture as a share of employment and GDP% 201651%% of total employment% of GDP

45%

43%
35%

17.4%

16.2%

18%

15%

8.3%

Africa

India

5.5%

Thailand

VietnamBrazil

8.6%
2.8%
China

Resulting in widespread poverty across majoragro-ecological zones in Africa

G R

Millions of Africans living on less than $1.25/day; 2014

103

10

53%

23%

96

9

417

44%

31%

49%

137

62
49%

57%

Humid

Sub-humid Semi-arid

Arid

Highland Sub-tropical

Total

Relatively low productivity
Average yields across Africa versus best practiceTonnes/(hectares or animals) 2013
AfricaBest practices

25.4
19.2

8.4

2.0
Cassava

10.0

8.3

Maize

2.4
Rice

3.6
1.1
Soy

0.5 1.3 0.2 0.4
Cocoa
Beef

0.5
Milk

Rapidly rising imports and poor performance in exports
Imports vs exports

Africa’s share of cocoa%

Billion USD

100

60

Imports% of cocoa beans% of ground cocoa

Exports

50
80

73%

40

30

20%

20
20

10
0

0

1990

5

2000

2010

2012/132013/142014/15

The Vision of Agricultural
Transformation

A

years into the foremost global exporter of olive
oil, with an average output of 115,000 tons
per year.

frican agricultural transformation can
substantially improve the quality of lifeof Africans and support economic
growth. The conditions for transformation are
beginning to materialise in a number of Africancountries. Liberalisation of input markets,
expansion of innovative agricultural finance, andland policy reform have allowed significant
advances to be made across Africa. This has led
to pockets of transformation across the continent.
Examples include:

These are concrete examples of transformation in
Africa. They point the way for larger-scale shifts in
African agriculture. Successful transformations arebusiness-led, and involve the creation of threesimultaneous conditions:• A large-scale dissemination of productivityincreasing technology and inputs, plus input
and capital intensity.
• The development of input and output markets,
structures and incentives that allow for the full
realisation of increased production.
• A well-functioning, vibrant and competitive
private sector that can manage and allocate
skills and capital to scale emergent success, anddrive long-term sustainable agribusiness growth.

• Horticulture in Kenya and floriculture in Ethiopia.
• Rwanda’s rapid and material reduction in thelevel of malnutrition.
• Nigeria’s large-scale registration of farmers onto
an electronic-wallet system to facilitate fertiliser
subsidy payments.
• Senegal’s transformation of its rice sector.
• Tunisia’s transformation over the past five6

Becoming a major exporting
player within 10 years

Becoming a major exporting
player within 10 years

Improving yields through modernized
input distribution

Kenya: Exporting horticulture

Ethiopia: Exporting floricultureout of Africa

Nigeria: Scale farmer registrationand input distribution

Total horticulture exports

Total floriculture exports

Total farmers registeredbillion KSH

million USD

million users

Success
factors

Achievements

Prevision

550

97

+76

+549

72
45

2005

2010

2014

• Strong foreign investor and partner support developing
and driving the industry• Contract farming model used to assure consistent
supply• Political will to support smallholder farmer development

<1

13

2001

2005

2010

10.3

345
4.2

178

21
2000

GESS was introduced
to farmers in April 2012

2013

2016

• Ethiopian Horticulture Producers and Exporters (EHPEA)
actively managing the sector• Strong Government support in (1) infrastructure andlogistics, (2) access to land, (3) provision of long-term
credit and (4) attracting domestic and foreign investors

20122013 (January)

2014 (April)• Strong political will and government support to transform the input supply system• Use of public funds to leverage private-sector investment (i.e. agro-dealers networks)• Leverage mobile technology to achieve scale andprovide nationwide access

Sources: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics; World Bank “Exporting Out of Africa — Kenya’s Horticulture Success Story” 2004; GRIPS “Global Value Chains and Market
Formation Process in Emerging Export Activity: Evidence from Ethiopian Flower Industry” 2010; Observatory of Economic Complexity; Market Insider “Ethiopia cut flower industry’s
success story” 2015; Development (FMARD) Nigeria; The economist “If only Nigeria could revamp its Grow-Africa “Fertilizer Subsidy Reform Revives Nigeria Agriculture”; Federal
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural farms” 2013; Dalberg analysis

7

The Feed Africa Response
representatives from civil society organisations,and experts from across the continent andbeyond.

Dakar High-Level ConferenceIn October 2015, the African Development
Bank in association with the African Union
Commission, the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa, and the Government of
Senegal, organised a high-level ministerial conference in Dakar. Its subject was: “Feed Africa: An
Action Plan for African Agricultural Transformation.” The conference objective was to map
out how to unlock Africa’s agricultural potential
and diversify its economies in keeping with thegoals of the Comprehensive African Agricultural
Development Programme.

Feed Africa builds on the commitments thatparticipants made at this event, as well as on priorcommitments and existing activities.
The African Development Bank and its partners
are pursuing an agenda to transform a selectionof key agricultural commodities and agroecological zones. Achieving Feed Africa’s goals
will involve strengthening a broad range of value
chains. In the short and medium term, however,resources will be focused on selected
agricultural value chains and related agroecological zones. The prioritisation of these
agricultural value chains and agro-ecologicalzones is based on the following set of criteria:
future demand; competitive advantage; scope
for transformation uplift; potential to nourish
Africa; and existing focus.

Over 600 participants attended the conference,
including African finance, planning and economy
ministers and ministers of agriculture and ruraldevelopment, selected ministers of industry andtrade, as well as central bank governors. Other
participants included professionals from research
institutes, academia and investment agencies,

8Dramatic increases
in production& productivity
Large-scaledissemination of
productivity - increasing
technology, inputs
and capital

Simultaneous creationof market structures
to realize the value ofincreased production
though thedevelopment of input
and output markets
structures /governance, andincentives

Mobilizationof a well-funded
private sector
capable of scaling
emergent
agribusines successes
and driving long-termsustainableagribusiness growth

In particular,
the Feed Africa
strategy will take acommodity focusedand integrated
approachsimultaneously
addressing multiple
bottlenecks acrossentire prioritized
agriculturalcommodity value
chains and within
relatedagro-ecological zones

Public sector as an enabler
to kick-start the process, shepherd it to scale, and create enabling environment
assets and conditions that enable private sector-led transformation

L to R: Agnes KALIBATA, President, AGRA; Tony ELUMELU, CEO, Heirs Holding; Rhoda-Peace TUMUSIIME, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture,
African Union; Akinwumi A. ADESINA, President, African Development Bank, Macky SALL, President of the Republic of Senegal; Augustin MATATA PONYO MAPON,
Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Abdalla HAMDOK, Deputy Executive Secretary, ECA; Sidi Ould TAH, Director General, Arab Bank for Economic
Development in Africa
Source: African Development Bank

Feed Africa: An Action Plan for African Agricultural Transformation, October 20159

Priority agricultural commodity value chains
and agro-ecological zones

Wheat and hor culture
in North Africa

Maize, soybean,
dairy, and livestock
across the Guinea
Savannah

Sorghum, millet,
cowpea, and livestock
across the Sahel
Rice in West Africa

Tree crops (inc.
cocoa, coﬀee,
cashew, and oilpalm),
hor culture andﬁsh farming
across all of
AfricaCassava in humid and sub-humid zones

Prioritization criteria

Future demand
Likely future African
demand, taking into
account changing
consumption habits
and needs

Competitive
advantage
Basis to effectively
compete with
imported products
and / or in export
markets

Scope fortransformational
upliftPotential to drive
massive increases
in productivity
activity, given
current endowments& assets versus
feasible targets

10

Potential to nourish
AfricaPreference for
products that can(as a portfolio) offer
broad-based nutrition
value, not justcalories

Existing focus
Alignment withexisting priority
commodities suchas those identified
by AU/NEPAD,
rather than establish
new ones

Fulfilling Agricultural
Transformation in Africa
Fulfilling Africa’s potential for transformation in the priority commodity value chains and agroecological zones requires different types of support to catalyse investment. Overall, there areseven vital sets of transformation enablers. These seven enabling actions and their components
are the following:#1 Massively Increase Productivity#5 Enhance Agribusiness Environments

•

•

•
•

Agriculture technology dissemination (Flagshipprogramme: Technologies for African Agricultural
Transformation)
Inputs finance and inputs systems development
Agricultural mechanisation#2 Boost value addition••

Post-Harvest Loss (PHL) Prevention
Agro-Processing Zones, Clusters, and Corridors

•
•

•
•

Infrastructure development and coordination
Farmer e-registration•#4 Expand Agricultural Financing••#6 Increase Inclusivity, Sustainability
and Nutrition•#3 Increase investments in hardand soft Infrastructure

Private investment and commercial bank lending for
agriculture (Flagship programme: Risk-sharing facility)
Non-bank small and medium enterprise financeand capacity-building

Policy Reform: (1) land tenure, (2) input subsidies,(3) incentives for local production and processing,(4) financial sector deepening, and (5) regional
integration and trade.

Climate resilience funding and climate-smart
agriculture practices
Women-owned agriculture and agribusinessenterprises
Youth employment in agribusiness (Flagshipprogramme: ENABLE Youth)
Food security and prevention of malnutrition#7 Coordinate Partnerships to drive
transformation•

Increase
Inclusivity,
Subtainability
and Nutrition

Partnership among key actors from the public andprivate sectors, and development actors

Massively
Increase
Productivity###7
Enhance
Agribusiness
Environments

Coordinate
Partnerships
to drive
Transformation

#

#

#

#
Increase
investments
in hard and soft
Infrastructure

ExpandAgricultural
Financing

11

Boost
Value Addition

What will it take for this approach
to work on the ground?
• Scaling and leveraging what is alreadyworking - Feed Africa initiatives are either
universally proven to deliver results, or
involve scaling up and replicating promisingpilots.
• Ensuring that sufficient skills and capabilities exist for follow-through - Appropriate
skills and capabilities, as well as fundamental
availability of resources, will be required forfollow-through.
• Sufficient targeting - The African Development Bank intends to increase the scale of its

funding to agriculture. It will direct thosefinancial resources to a series of commodities
and agro-ecological zones. Doing so will help
the African Development Bank drive multicountry value chains through extensive
commodity and agro-industry expertise.
• Candour about the importance of political
will - Transformation will involve substantial
reform. It will, therefore, require a high degreeof political priority, coordination acrossministries, and the willingness to push throughbusiness and developmental interests.

Agricultural Transformation:
Counting the Costs and Delivering the BenefitsT

ransforming the commodity value chains
and agro-ecological zones will open up
markets worth US$85 billion per annum
by 2025. This will make substantial impact
towards realising Sustainable Development Goals
on poverty reduction and ending hunger, in
keeping with SDGs 1 and 2.

The total cost of transformation for the priority
commodities and agro-ecological zones in thestrategy is between US$315 billon andUS$400 billion over 10 years. This is equivalent
to US$31.5 billion to US$40 billion per year.
This level of investment by far exceeds
resources currently available from the public
sector. There are sufficient resources within
Africa and through potential partners toachieve this ambition.
Feed Africa will require an Africa-wide agenda thatcombines the resources of a broad set of public
and private sector actors. Therefore, coordinationand partnership as well as the development ofinnovative financial instruments to incentivise thispartnership are essential to achieve transformation. The possible sources of financing forthis transformation include but are not limited to
the following:• African governments in 2014 spent approximately US$12 billion on agriculture. Althoughmeeting the Malabo commitments of allocating
10 percent of public budgets to agriculture has
not materialised, a notable increase of government investment is still imperative, especially forcountry-level ownership.
• Multilateral and bilateral donors, international
finance institutions, foundations and nongovernmental organisations taken together
spent about US$3.8 billion on agriculture in
Africa in 2014. The African Development Bank
intends to raise its average annual investments
in agriculture.
• Private sector and institutional capital will be a
critical source of financing. Leveraging commercial bank balance sheets and innovative financemechanisms will be explored as potential options.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in agriculture
and agribusiness in Africa was worth US$10

12

billion in 2014. Creating the appropriate
conditions for agribusiness growth, andaligning existing investment strategies of theprivate sector to the goals of transformation
should increase the attractiveness and flowsof FDI into the African agribusiness sector.
• The importance of ensuring the develop ment of sustainable, resilient and climate-smart agri culture is closely aligned withrealising the ambitions agreed in COP 21,2
and associated climate finance commit ments. These represent additional andmaterial sources of funding for key parts oftransformation,
especially
agricultural
sustainable intensification of commodity
production, and sustainable natural resource
management.

Potential agriculture and agribusinessmarkets by incremental revenue opportunities

Longer term markets2~$20–30bn~$5–10bn~$15–25bn

~4–6

~1–2

<1

~2–3

Cassava (humid& sub-humid)

CottonSorghum, millet,
cowpea~12–14

Rice (West)

Pan-African~$30–40bn~11–13

~3–5

~7–10

~5–7

~5–7

~3–5

~3–5

~110–125

Total newagribusinessrevenue~$20–25bn

Sahel

Irish & sweet
potatoes

Guinea Savannah~7–9~10–12

Advancedhorticulture3

Sugar

Dairy
+ livestock

SoybeanMaize

Livestock

Wheat (North)Tree-crops

Fish farming

Horticulture~15–17~7–10

Notes:
transformation strategy; (3) involves application of high-productivity horticulture methods to substantially increase Africa’s share of horticulture export markets.
Source: CGIAR; FAOstat; Dalberg analysis

4

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (‘Conference of the Parties’) in Paris.

The Role of the African Development BankT

he African Development Bank has considerable experience in supporting African countries in the
agricultural sector. Therefore, the African Development Bank will play a pivotal and catalytic role inthe delivery of the Feed Africa agenda. The Bank will use its unique role and previous experience
as a key investor for, convener of, and advisor to African nations and institutions to coordinate and amplify
fragmented efforts across the continent. Specifically, the African Development Bank will work in conjunction
with its partners to orchestrate, design and take to scale existing and successful transformation initiatives.

13

ORCHESTRATEDESIGN

activities at the sector
level to create tangible
plans and momentum
for transformation including
agreed upon outcomes
and coordinationand lead the developmentof systems and structures
critical to the transformationof African agriculture

SCALE
AND REPLICATE
activities and programsof key partners that haveshown successin contributing to desiredtransformation

Partnerships for Transformation
Coordination among the different stakeholders and partners is key to the delivery of thetransformation agenda. Feed Africa will strengthen already existing platforms that involve alignment
around specific and targeted value-chain transformation agendas by:

Bringing coherence and clear plans of action
and securing commitments.

Sequencing efforts across the same value
chain and within the same country or region.

Holding participating actors accountable
to their commitments.

Leveraging shared capabilities and footprints
to enhance programs and expand reach.

Selecting priority focus areas both fordecision-making and resource allocation.

Sharing previous experience and learnings
as they pertain to new projects.

Engaging and understanding the needs ofvalue chain actors and larger private sector
players.

14

High-level setup of ‘Partnership for Agricultural Transformation in Africa’
Increased
productivity

Not exhaustive

Hard and soft
infrastructure

Realized
productivity

Agricultural
Finance

Enabling agribusinessenvironment

Inclusivity, sustainability,
nutrition

AFRICAN UNIONAFRICAN UNION

Co-development

Small and large scale agribusiness, farmers
organizations, and food companies
Partnership

Multilateral, bilateral donors, foundations,and Government organizations

AFRICAN UNION+

Regional Member Countries

Commodity-focused working groups for integrated value chain interventions
Working Group 1:
Rice

Working Group 2:
Cocoa

Working Group 3:
Cassava

Working Group 4:...

Working Group 5:

15

...

Working Group 6:...

Working Group 7:...

Working Group 8:...

Comprehensive African Agriculture
Development ProgrammeCommitments and Goals by African Heads of Stateand Government in 2014 Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

1 Recommitment to the principles and values of the Comprehensive African
Agricultural Development Programme process
2 Recommitment to enhance investment finance in agriculture• Uphold 10 percent public spending target• Operationalise the African Investment Bank

3 Commitment to ending hunger by 2025
• At least double productivity (focusing on inputs, irrigation, mechanisation)• Reduce post-harvest losses at least by half
• Nutrition: reduce underweight to 5 percent and stunting to 10 percent

4 Commitment to halving poverty, by 2025, through inclusive agricultural
growth and transformation• Sustain annual sector growth in agricultural GDP of at least 6 percent• Establish and/or strengthen inclusive public-private partnerships for at least five priority
agricultural commodity value chains, with strong linkage to small-holder agriculture• Create job opportunities for at least 30 percent of the youth in agricultural value chains• Preferential entry and participation by women and youth in gainful and attractive agribusiness5 Commitment to boosting intra-African trade in agricultural commodities
and services• Triple intra-Africa trade in agricultural commodities and services• Fast track continental free trade area and transition to a continental common external tariff
scheme6 Commitment to enhancing resilience in livelihoods, production systems,
climate variability, and other shocks• Ensure that by 2025, at least 30 percent of farm and pastoral households are resilient toshocks• Enhance investments for resilience building initiatives, including social security for rural
workers and other vulnerable social groups, as well as for vulnerable ecosystems• Mainstream resilience and risk management in policies, strategies and investment plans

7 Commitment to mutual accountability to actions and results• Through the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme Result Framework– conduct a biennial agricultural review process and results

16

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP
Communication and External Relations Department
Rue Joseph Anoma 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01 (Côte d’Ivoire)Tel.: +225 20 26 44 44 • Fax: +225 20 21 31 00
Web: www.afdb.org
October 2017