L’émergence des Pôles de Croissance Agricoles en Afrique

The briefing examines the rise of agricultural growth poles, or agropoles, across Africa as a strategy to attract private investment and transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture. It identifies 36 growth poles and 9 corridors across 23 countries, covering at least 3.5 million hectares. While these tools aim to boost competitiveness and industrialization, the document highlights operational failures, such as delays in Morocco and Senegal, and risks like 'land grabbing' and the creation of economic dualism. It argues that for agropoles to be sustainable, they must be supported by robust national legal frameworks, avoid restrictive stabilization clauses, and follow a three-step development process: vision, design, and implementation, with a strong emphasis on community engagement and environmental impact assessments.

• Over the last 15 years, Africa has seen the emergence of 36 agricultural growth poles and 9 agricultural corridors, spanning at least 3.5 million hectares across 23 countries.
• Agropoles are designed as coordinated investments across multiple sectors to support autonomous industrialization, typically combining public and private funding around existing resources.
• Several agropoles have faced significant operational delays and funding shortages; for example, the Mpal agropole in Senegal took over 10 years to start, and the Meknès project in Morocco occupies only 21 percent of its planned area.
• The 'aggregation' strategy, which groups farmers around private actors to overcome land fragmentation, is a key but challenging element of the agropole model.
• There is a risk that agropoles may create a 'system of dualism' where foreign investments fail to integrate with the local rural economy, leaving small farmers unable to benefit from increased economic activity.
• The document warns against using 'stabilization clauses' in investment contracts, as they freeze national laws and can exempt investors from new legislation or entitle them to compensation for law changes.
• International consensus from the IMF, World Bank, OECD, and UNIDO suggests that tax holidays and income tax exemptions in low-income countries are ineffective at increasing investment and can encourage corruption.
• Responsible agropole development requires a three-stage process: Vision (aligning with national development plans and land/water mapping), Design (feasibility studies and environmental/social impact assessments), and Implementation (monitoring and law enforcement).

APA

Picard, F., Coulibaly, M., & Smaller, C. (2017). L’émergence des Pôles de Croissance Agricoles en Afrique. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/rise-agricultural-growth-poles-in-africa-fr.pdf

Chicago

Picard, Francine, Mohamed Coulibaly, and Carin Smaller. L’émergence des Pôles de Croissance Agricoles en Afrique. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/rise-agricultural-growth-poles-in-africa-fr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Picard |first1=Francine |last2=Coulibaly |first2=Mohamed |last3=Smaller |first3=Carin |title=L’émergence des Pôles de Croissance Agricoles en Afrique |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=1 September 2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/rise-agricultural-growth-poles-in-africa-fr.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{picard2017lmergence, author = {Picard, Francine and Coulibaly, Mohamed and Smaller, Carin}, title = {{L’émergence des Pôles de Croissance Agricoles en Afrique}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/rise-agricultural-growth-poles-in-africa-fr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }