Africa’s unfolding agricultural transformation

Badiane, Ousmane; Diao, Xinshen; and Jayne, Thomas. 2021. Africa’s unfolding agricultural transformation. In Agricultural development: New perspectives in a changing world, eds. Keijiro Otsuka and Shenggen Fan. Part Two: Regional Issues in Agricultural Development, Chapter 5, Pp. 153-192. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896293830_05.

This chapter on Africa documents the region’s unfolding agricultural and broader economic transformations, explores the underlying drivers and implications of these transformations, and considers the new priorities dictated by these developments. It starts with an analysis of the shifting role of agriculture in the development of African economies, and the history and status of agricultural transformation and its implications for economic growth, poverty reduction, food systems, and nutrition. The second section reviews changes in agricultural productivity growth over time. The third section discusses patterns of poverty reduction and urbanization and related changes in diets, as well as their effects on agrifood systems and nutrition outcomes. The fourth section summarizes four broad trends that illustrate Africa’s agricultural transformation to date and briefly discusses their possible future evolution.