Africa’s AgTech Landscape: An Overview

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Agtech in Africa is not only providing unprecedented solutions to Africa’s sustainable agriculture.  It holds the potential to revolutionise the continent through agriculture.

In Africa, agriculture plays a pivotal role in enhancing the social and economic impressions as evident in representative countries’ gross domestic product. In many African countries, up to 85% of the workforce is employed in the agricultural sector. Furthermore, a sizable percentage of Africa’s working youth is estimated to be actively employed in the agricultural sector. African youths are increasingly becoming vanguards contributing to the development, implementation, adoption and utilisation of agricultural technologies. This they achieve by creating new opportunities leveraging their skills and exposure to digital technologies, entrepreneurship, and innovation to enhance agricultural productivity and efficiency while gradually transforming the agri-food systems within the continent. 

Some of the prominent areas of focus where agritech innovations and innovators in Africa have been able to provide support include the development of farm management software, marketplace platforms, fintech solutions, post-harvest solutions, climate-smart agriculture, data, AI, and carbon credits. These agritech solutions are implemented to make agriculture more efficient, profitable, and sustainable. 

Fusion of ICT and Agriculture in Africa.

Realities of Agriculture and ICTs in Africa

Source: Agritech Blueprint for Africa 

The growth and development of Agtech largely depends on the integration of ICT and its crucial roles in the development, adoption, and utilisation of agritech solutions.  Across many African countries, the challenges of accessing ICT have been a significant constraint for the agTech sector to experience a growth rate compared to other continents of the world. 

Despite the opportunities lurking within the sector, financial support and funds have not translated into robust transformation.

While the scaling potentials of these agTech solutions are quite evident, other factors like digital literacy level, mobile internet use, government policies, political will, internet users, and many others determine the inflow of capital to develop agTech interventions. For example, as identified and reported in 2022, Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt in particular are leading in agrifood tech investment. These countries have been identified as being at the forefront of transforming agriculture through innovative agTech solutions. In 2022, it was reported that these three countries together raised 86% ($546.8 million) of the total $636 million funding for agrifood tech in Africa.

Furthermore, major drivers of agTech adoption in Africa including the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have all played significant roles in investments within the agTech sector. As reported, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), within their strategic framework themed ‘Scaling for Impact (2023-2027)’ have accessed 24 innovative and trailblazing agricultural technologies worth more than $650 million, captured throughout 24 African countries. The foundation’s efforts had reached 4.8 million smallholder farmers as at 2023. 

The agritech blueprint under the leadership of Zimbabwe and Smart Africa identified benchmarking data, which was analysed using the Quadrant Analysis Cartesian Chart. This quadrant is divided into four.

1. Fast Adopters: According to the report, this category of countries have high agriculture and ICT capacities. These capacities are relatively low compared to other countries globally but they fall in the top 75% when compared to other African countries. While the 13 countries in this category scored above the median values (40% and 30%) for agriculture and ICT, respectively, with some scoring close to median values, others like South Africa and Morocco scored above 60% for both agriculture and ICT. It was reported that they still have potential to grow compared to other countries around the world.
2. ICT-Fit: These countries possess high ICT capacity but low agriculture capacity. The countries scored above the median value of 39% for ICT but scored below the median value of 40% for agriculture. Their growth rate in ICT is faster than the growth rate in agriculture.
3. Emerging Adopters: These countries exhibit low ICT and low agriculture capacities. They scored below the median values of 39% and 40% for ICT and agriculture, respectively, and are considered to require strategic high-level interventions to accelerate the growth and advancement of agriculture and ICT.
4. Agric-Fit: These countries have high agricultural capacity with low ICT capacity. They scored above the median value of 40% in agriculture but scored below the median value of 39% in ICT. This indicates that the growth rate of agriculture is faster than the growth rate of ICT in those countries.

Essentially, identified countries in these quadrants require definite strategies to scale agTech solutions, while common challenges will have to be addressed to grow each quadrant into acceptable global standards.

Opportunities for AgTech Interventions in Africa

Despite the limitations in scaling agritech solutions on the continent, there are key areas for growth and sustainability of agTech in Africa. Identified areas by African leadership for the year 2025 include:

1. AI-Powered Precision Agriculture
2. Agri-Fintech Solutions
3. Climate-Smart Farming Techniques
4. Vertical Farming and Urban Agriculture
5. Biotech and Gene Editing
6. Automation and Robotics in Agribusinesses 

The development in Africa for scaling agTech across all indices will require an established multifaceted approach that addresses special needs and local challenges of individual countries as identified within the quadrant categories. Bridging connectivity gaps through investments and infrastructural developments, providing accessible and affordable technology, investing in farmer training and digital literacy, as well as, adopting and implementing supportive policy frameworks are crucial. 

To harness the huge potential inherent in the agTech ecosystem in Africa, there is a need for cross-sectoral collaboration and partnership to address the fundamental challenges.

While collaboration is a fundamental requirement to drive Africa’s agTech industry, the collective will to identify each country’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities within the development framework while overcoming the limitations will further allow for robust engagements among the countries. It will produce a concerted effort to scale agTech solutions, but most importantly, to ensure Africa maximises its true agricultural potential.