(Ecofin Agency) - For the African continent to achieve sustainable growth of its economy and food production, as well as create more high-productivity employment, reinforcing public-private partnership will be vital. This was revealed in AGRA’s latest Africa agriculture status report (AASR) on the sidelines of the 2017 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF). 

Indeed, the report states that the private sector plays a key role in the transformation of Africa’s food industry, in regards to SME’s and agro-food multinationals’ role at each step of the value chain. It however added that the public sector will have to put in place favorable conditions to facilitate the whole process.

Amongst recommended measures in this regard, the document mentioned greater investments in infrastructures and basic services (water and power supply), improving legal and regulatory frameworks to boost regional agricultural exchanges. It also recommended the adoption of agricultural insurance to make farmers more resilient, especially against climate change and related issues. 

This collective approach is most crucial as it could indeed help make agricultural and agro-industrial sectors more competitive across the continent and tap into the huge potential of the agro-food sector in terms of value added creation and output increase for small farmers.

According to data from the World Bank, Africa’s agro-food market should be valued at about 1 trillion USD by 2030, against $300 billion now.

Espoir Olodo