Dealing with Agricultural Challenges in Africa

Agriculture has an enormous social and economic impact in Africa. Over 60% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population are smallholder farmers while about 23% of its GDP comes from Agriculture. Even with a huge part of Africa been heavily dependent on Agriculture, its full agricultural potential has remained untapped.

However, Africa’s agricultural potentials cannot be fully maximized without dealing with its challenges. Farmers across Africa, unlike their global counterparts, face challenges that go beyond pests, diseases, damaging water, etc. Their challenges mostly border on lack of access to the necessary input required to boost productivity.

The majority of Africans depend on agriculture for their livelihood. As regards to this, boosting agricultural growth will scale income and the living conditions of Africans. Considering that one of the most effective ways to boost the use of local products and services and generate economic growth is by scaling the growth of the agricultural sector.

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Agricultural growth propels economic development which will be unachievable without significant investments in the sector. Investments in the agricultural sector cut across; Inputs e.g. Fertilizer and Hybrid seed; Infrastructure e.g. Irrigation, Storage, Electricity, Technology, Roads, Ports, etc.; Markets e.g. Trade; policies, regional and international trade flows, off-take markets. When these are carried out properly, jobs will be created across all investment sectors.

To properly deal with Africa’s agricultural challenges, there is a need to collaborate, cooperate and network at multiple levels. Which is the platform Meet the Farmers Conference (MTFC) 2019 aims to provide.

MTFC is the largest agro conference that connects agro stakeholders from Africa and the GCC. The conference aims to produce a healthy environment, economic profitability, and innovations, in a bid to drive business partnerships that will foster formidable agricultural growth.

The conference will feature a presentation from Leonie Hartmann the CEO of Avagro. He will be speaking on the topic ‘How to Deal with Agricultural Challenges in Africa’.

More on MTFC:

• Creating a Sustainable Future In Agriculture
• The Role of Dubai as an International Trade Hub for Businesses in Africa
• The role of African Farmers in Achieving Zero Hunger and Global Food Security
• Where this is found in Africa Series – an Expository of African Cash Crops
• Highlights of Agriculture in North Africa