With seven successful editions standing in front of us and thousands of inspiring stories to cherish, we cannot ignore the fact that Africa has the potential to be a global agricultural powerhouse and a breadbasket for the world. Moreover, with strong government backing, financial institutions, fertile land, the right policies intact, and, of course, a platform like the Africa Agri Expo, this has become a lot easier.
How is Africa - a potential market for agribusiness success?
Africa has emerged as a very promising market with endless opportunities. In the last few decades, two of the very promising advancements that have driven the agricultural economy in Africa are technology and infrastructure.
The advancements projected are so high that the African Development Bank - a leading multilateral bank supporting the member countries in Africa has projected that Africa's food and agriculture market could grow from $280 billion annually to $1 trillion by 2030.
However, the core challenge for the continent is that it requires effectively channelling resources to address core issues like excellent companies coming into the region to do business. This is only possible when strategic partnerships and targeted investments are essential to drive Africa's agricultural transformation and support its sustainable development goals.
Why should you expand in Africa?
Africa presents an awesome opportunity for all the growth accelerators who want to take their cost-effective agriculture technology and solutions to the market. The key is to find the right channel partner. We through Africa Agri Expo since the past 7 editions have been explicitly doing that.
But first let us understand why you should aim at Africa, especially a country like Kenya.
1) Rising Population - Africa's population is surging with a growth rate of 2.34%. The continent which now contributes 10% of the world's population will have a 28% share by 2050 - according to the latest prediction. Source
2) Untapped Land - Africa has huge untapped land which is fertile. The government is looking for exceptional companies that can expand in the region with their cost-effective solutions and technologies.
3) Strong Government Support - The African farming industry is increasingly adopting contemporary breakthroughs such as precision agriculture, biotechnology, and digital tools to improve efficiency, productivity, and profitability. These technologies are not only adding substantial benefits to the farmers but are assisting them in screening the crops post-cultivation. And who is promoting them? The new firms have a huge government support.
Let us see some of the Government's approaches to strengthen the industry for the better.
Agricultural subsidies: Governments in many African countries provide subsidies to farmers in the form of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, and equipment, which helps to increase productivity and reduce costs.
Infrastructure development: Governments are investing in the development of rural infrastructure such as roads, irrigation systems, and storage facilities to improve access to markets and reduce post-harvest losses.
Land reforms: Many African countries are implementing land reforms to improve land tenure security and facilitate access to credit, which is essential for agribusiness development.
We have covered this in our previous blog - https://africa-agriexpo.com/african-farming-industry.html
4) Technological Upgradation - Africa is booming with technologies and hope - a vision that defines a future where agriculture will be fully technologically driven.
The gap in the African Agribusiness Sector.
Africa as a continent has a huge potential for growth. The countries in the continent have huge fertile land, ample government backing and a favourable climate. All it needs is a huge expertise in technology and solutions that are cost-effective and suitable for the flexible environment, changing consumer demands and high productivity in the long run.
According to the report, the world's agriculture technology is worth $24.08 billion. If we talk about Africa, agriculture technology in East Africa, particularly in Africa is bolstering.
Kenya's agriculture sector shows significant promise for AgTech and Cost-effective solutions expansion due to its robust digital infrastructure, notably mobile money and market access apps - and most importantly, the acceptance that has come from small-scale farmers to upscale their skills in the past years.
This digital readiness positions Kenya as a regional leader in AgTech, offering a favourable environment for new tech-driven agricultural ventures. However, challenges persist: while Kenya has strong FinTech integration, this innovation has yet to fully extend into AgTech financing. Kenya's AgTech potential is high, but achieving full integration with its current business and tech ecosystems remains an ongoing challenge. This has been best explained in a report by FAO.
Role of Africa Agri Expo on the Continent
There is a potential in global agriculture players to transform the agriculture landscape of Africa, but channelling this requires time and great effort - what is even more challenging is the expansion - from planning to making contacts to understanding the market, demands and whatnot!
Through the Africa Agri Expo, we take pride in explicitly doing this. Not only have we provided top industry agro leaders with a platform to exhibit, connect and speak about their companies in front of the thousands of the targeted audience but have effectively curated impactful branding and marketing plans for our participating companies.
Through a dynamic expo and conference, we empower participants to showcase their premium solutions, and we take it upon ourselves to drive audience engagement at their booths. Our dedication has not gone unnoticed; for the past three years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has endorsed our event, supporting us under their patronage. This valued partnership underscores the credibility and impact of our event in the industry.
The 7th edition, which was held in 2024, February was backed by stakeholders from aak-GROW / CropLife Kenya, Kenya Investment Authority, ASNET, KOAN, Society of Crop Agribusiness Advisors of Kenya, National Irrigation Authority, The Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya, Farm to Market Alliance, AATF, National Biosafety Authority, WoFak, KENAFF, IFDC, AGRA, NPCK, and a lot more.
Book your booth today - https://africa-agriexpo.com/registration.html