WHY AGRICULTURE IS AFRICA'S BIGGEST HOPE

Africa is the second largest continent in the globe and with close to 1.216 billion people this makes Africa the second most populous continent after Asia, the world's most populous continent with 4.436 billion people. It is projected that by 2050 Africa's population will be the highest and that 60% of its largely rural areas will be urbanized and this raises pertinent questions about Africa's future and especially its agrarian based economies ability to create high value jobs, sustainable wealth and ensure every family on the continent puts food on the table. Here are some of the reasons why agriculture remains Africa's safe landing net contrary to what public opinion suggest.

With one of the fastest population growth rates in the globe, there is an uneven demand for wholesome and nutritious food and the demand is not likely to fall anytime soon in fact the growing population is fast straining strategic food reserves and in the future with a surging demand for wholesome and nutritious foods, food security will be one of the biggest agenda's in governments across Africa. Africa's bright future is likely to be secured when its population can easily get nutritious food on the table. On this front numerous opportunities exist not only is Africa's population boom a tragedy but it is indeed a blessing, with the world's second largest population, Africa provides both foreign and private sector investors one of the largest domestic markets for agricultural commodities and support services.

Unlike other parts of the world with relatively low unemployment rates, Africa is home to the highest rates of unemployment especially among the youth. While agriculture does not look cool for an average young African, the good news is that perceptions about agriculture among young people are changing. Agriculture is slowly becoming the continent's solution to youth unemployment. With an absorption capacity of 75% of Africa's total workforce,agriculture remains the biggest employer both on farm and off farm. Modernisation of agriculture is key to changing the negative perceptions of agriculture among the youth, integrating information, communication and technology in agriculture will be the key to creating numerous well paying and high value jobs to the masses of unemployed youth across Africa.

While manufacturing continues to experience a decline in its contribution to the continent's gross domestic product due to competition from other world manufacturing powerhouses and a tough business environment. Agriculture seems to be the resilient brother, disruptive technologies such as use of drones in evaluating crop performance and climate smart technologies are helping improve productivity on and off the farm. Unlike in manufacturing where numerous jobs are getting lost at the onset of adoption of disruptive technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence, in agriculture the use of disruptive technologies is increasing jobs while at the same time safeguarding workers job security because agriculture still remains a physical and mental intensive activity.

Despite holding Africa's future agriculture still faces many challenges, challenges that require  multi-sectoral working partnerships that will build on the success and transform the oldest occupation in the history of mankind.