Agribusiness: A Global Concern

• Food security and rising food prices• Increasing demand for commodities• Climate Change • Economic and financial crises• Millennium Development Goals:

Halve poverty and hunger by 2015

Agribusiness in Africa

Agribusiness plays a critical role in Sub-Saharan Africa

70% of SSA’s households depends on Agribusiness for

its livelihood

Labour Force

Agricul-ture70%

Merchandise Exports

Agriculture40%

GDP

Agriculture30%

As high as 50% in some countries

Women in Agriculture

• Gender gap: limited access to productive inputs, assets and services.

• 50% of the Agricultural labour force• 60 % of employed women

Industry Actors

Governments/Regional Bodies

Case Example: AU-NEPAD CAADP

• CAADP's goal is to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty through agriculture.

• To do this, African governments have agreed to increase public investment in agriculture by a minimum of 10% of their national budgets and to raise agricultural productivity by at least 6%.

• Pillar 1- Extending the area under sustainable land managementPillar 2 - Improving rural infrastructure and trade-related capacities for market accessPillar 3 - Increasing food supply and reducing hungerPillar 4 - Agricultural research, technology dissemination and adoption

The Four CAADP Pillars

Financial Institutions

Case Example- -IFC

• IFC has made agribusiness a priority• IFC supports projects across the food

supply chain, including processing, logistics, and distribution.

• IFC tailors specific instruments and partnerships to address different challenges in individual countries/sub-regions

• IFC investments in the sector span:• Fertilizers• Food Retail• Agri IT/Telecoms• Agri Infrastructure• Equity Funds• Rural and Trade Finance• Agribusiness Production and

Processing

Investments include:• Finatrade Holdings Limited ,

operating in West Africa in soft commodities (rice, sugar and vegetable oils) and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) distribution;

• Bakhresa Group, operating milling businesses in East Africa

Networks/Associations

Case Example- UniBRAIN(Universities, Business and

Research in Agricultural Innovation)

1. Development of agricultural business innovations in an Agribusiness Innovation Incubator Consortia (AIIC) environment

2. Production of agribusiness entrepreneurs and innovators by improving BSc and MSc agribusiness teaching and training

3. Sharing and up-scaling innovation outputs, experiences and practices

Key Partners:• The African Network for Agriculture,

Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE)

• The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS)

• The Pan-African Agri-Business and Agro-industry Consortium (PanAAC)

• Sub-Regional Organisations: ASARECA, COARAF/WECARD, SADC/FANR

NGO’s

Case Example: TechnoServe

Increasing competitiveness in the Cashew Nut Industry

• African farmers produce 1/3 of the world's cashew nuts, but nearly all of them are processed elsewhere.

• TechnoServe is working in Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana and Kenya to improve farmer productivity, establish efficient local processing plants, and improve the business environment.

• TechnoServe has helped form the African Cashew Alliance to coordinate the industry's competitive growth and sustainability.

These efforts have already created thousands of processing jobs and boosted the incomes of more than

100,000 farmers.

Research Institutes

Case Example: NERICA• A new rice variety is transforming

agriculture in a large portion of West Africa, benefiting twenty million farmers- mostly women- and helping reduce the high rice import bills.

• NERICA, "New Rice for Africa", combines the ruggedness of local African rice species with the high productivity traits of the Asian rice that was the mainstay of the Green Revolution.

• Scientists at the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) developed NERICA using bio-technology techniques

• Sierra Leonean, Dr. Monty Jones and currently Executive director of Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) won the World Food Prize in 2004 for his break-through work in developing NERICA.

Donors

Case Example: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Global

Development Program• Agricultural Development is the

largest initiative in the Global Development Program

• Working with partners, the Foundation aims to help 150 million of the world’s poorest farming families in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia lift themselves out of extreme poverty by 2025

• The Foundation focuses its investment in four areas:

1. Farmer Productivity2. Market Access3. Science and Technology4. Policy and Statistics

Success Stories

Agribusiness is transforming organizations, industries and

lives.

Blue Skies

• Exporter of pre-packed fruit salads and juices

• 2000 employees in Ghana, Egypt, South Africa and Brazil

• Customers include some of the biggest supermarket chains in the UK, Europe and South Africa

• The UK’s 2000 tonnes of prepared pineapple yearly imports from Ghana generates £2.6 million in wages alone.

Kenya: The Horticulture Industry

• The Horticulture industry is the second largest earner of foreign exchange, employer and contributor to food needs in the country.

• It is the fastest growing agricultural sub sector

• Kenya’s ideal tropical and temperate climatic condition makes it favourable for production of wide range of fruits, vegetables

and flowers.

• Largest supplier of cut flowers to the European Union.

• Second largest developing-country exporter of flowers in the world

• Second largest horticultural exporter in Sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa.

• Second largest developing country supplier of vegetables to the European Union

Faustina’s Fortune

But there are many challenges...

• Lack of Human Capital• Lack of Infrastructure• Market Access• Access to Credit/finance• Access to Information and Inputs• Supply Chain

Management/Inefficiencies• Only 7% of Africa’s arable land is

irrigated

Agribusiness can unlock Africa’s economic growth

potential

What role must we play?