Will Africa's Next Growth Story Start on the Farm?

An African farmer pushed a bundle of crops he has harvested up a field on his bicycle on Kubatsirana Farm in Manica District, Mozambique. —Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures Ltd./Corbis—Getty Images Africa needs an agricultural revolution, both to feed the growing population and to power the continent’s economic growth.

And yet, despite decades of efforts, a slew of challenges from climate shocks to market shifts have hampered progress.

This was a flavor of the conversation at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda, last week.

And I was struck by a simple solution that came up time and again: focus on farmer profitability.

“If the farmer prospers, then it means that our food systems are going to be resilient,” Elizabeth Wathuti , founder of the Green Generation Initiative, which promotes environmental community innovations in Africa, told me on a TIME panel hosted at the conference.

The challenge is not simply producing more food.

Agricultural production has increased in Africa over the last few decades, but growth isn’t necessarily durable.

Agri-food supports two-thirds of African livelihoods and generates a third of the continent’s GDP.

But farmers generate less value than their counterparts elsewhere: about $1,500 per worker annually versus $4,300 globally, according to figures from AGRA, the organization formerly known as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

Higher profits mean more farmers can afford to stay in the business and younger people will be enticed to join, thereby creating a more sustainable food system for the continent.

Profitable farming isn’t just about feeding people, as important as that is.

A developed agriculture sector creates opportunities for investment in processing, trading, and other functions along the agriculture value chain, leading to further economic growth opportunities.

Only around 12-15% of Africa’s agricultural GDP comes from processing, compared to more than 60% in developed regions, according to AGRA.

And agricultural outputs can be the basis of new industries: think of biofuels.