Agriculture is of vital importance for several major development goals in Africa. This sector is primarily an engine of job creation: while land exploitation and livestock farming alone already contribute about 60% of jobs in sub-Saharan Africa, the share of jobs in the entire agri-food system could be much higher. In Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, the food system is expected to be the sector with the greatest potential for new jobs between 2010 and 2025. In addition, agriculture is a vector of sustainable growth and solidarity, as well as the foundation of a system essential to ensure a nutritious, safe and accessible food for all.

Nevertheless, this sector is experiencing increasing difficulties in Africa.

Despite significant progress in recent years, agricultural productivity in Africa is still lagging behind other regions of the world. One in four Africans still suffers from chronic malnutrition. The situation will worsen in the coming decades, given that population growth in Africa, with an additional 1.3 billion people by 2050, will put an even greater strain on the African food system. Added to this is climate change, which, by increasing, will jeopardize crops and livestock production, and exacerbate the challenge of food security. Without adaptation strategies, maize production, one of Africa’s staple commodities, could fall by 40% by 2050. Although the extension of cultivated land has made it possible to increase agricultural production considerably in the past, it has been at the expense of the environment. In future, agricultural production will have to be intensified in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.