Africa Agriculture

As Algeria looks to curb its imports in the face of declining state revenues, speeding up development of the agriculture sector has become a pressing goal. As the country seeks to diversify away from hydrocarbons, the sector is well placed to contribute.

As the government turns to the agriculture sector to boost economic growth, there is a greater emphasis on access to credit and financing for the industry. This stems from the awareness that more funds, in terms of both loans and grants, need to be supplied to the sector in order for it to reach its full potential.

As Nigeria’s economy contracted in 2016, the country’s agriculture sector took on even more importance. Long touted as a remedy to the West African nation’s dependence on oil, agriculture is now seen as a potential economic saviour. Before hydrocarbons became the main source of economic growth and export revenue, agriculture dominated the...

No single crop defines the Nigerian agriculture sector more than cassava. The nation is the world’s largest producer of this root vegetable. Yet despite its proficiency in production, Nigeria has not been able to turn this position into a substantial revenue generator. However, efforts to capitalise on this competitive advantage speak to...

In recent years Tunisian agriculture has been hampered by the recurring droughts, and with only 80,000 ha of cultivable land under irrigation, cereals and crop production have fluctuated. Yet Tunisia has a volume of water reserves estimated at 5bn cu metres, 55% composed of surface waters and 45% underground. Nearly half of these reserves are...

Although its share in Tunisia’s economy has declined over the past few decades, agriculture contributes 9% of the country’s GDP, employs 16% of the workforce and accounts for 9% of investments and exports. Extending over 5m ha of cultivated land, agricultural production centres on cereals, fruits and vegetables, olive oil and dates. The sector...