Africa Agriculture Status Report 2016
This status report (PDF) by AGRA is the fourth volume of the Africa Agriculture Status Report series focusing on progress towards African agricultural transformation. The series has the objective of producing an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of emerging issues and challenges being faced by Africa’s smallholder farmers (see also the 2014 and 2015 report). The 2016 report has tracked the progress made in the last decade with the MDGs and the Maputo Declaration as critical benchmarks, and analyses the current status of agriculture in Africa with consideration of the Malabo Declaration and the SDG agenda. According to the report Africa is making steady progress towards agricultural transformation. There is a noticeable upward shift in expenditure on agriculture by national governments in African countries. There is evidence of faster growth in agricultural productivity, improved nutrition, and greater job creation even in the non-farm segments of their economies. The private sector is increasingly investing in agriculture, and the foundations have been laid for a renaissance in Africa’s agriculture. The authors state that these glimpses of success offer an inspiring new vision of a future Africa in which farming as a struggle to survive gives way to farming as a business that thrives. Much more remains to be done to sustain these gains and truly drive the agricultural transformation needed for Africa’s development, and to ensure better life for all of its people.