Powering Agriculture: Unlocking Africa's Next Green Revolution

The policy brief highlights the 'value-addition gap' in African agriculture, where low productivity and lack of energy access limit economic growth. It proposes that the AU-EU partnership focus on deploying solar mini-grids to power village-level agro-processing, reforming cooperatives to improve farmer bargaining power, and providing micro-finance and micro-enterprise training to smallholders. Using Uganda's maize sector as an example, the document demonstrates that over 60% of maize croplands could be served by mini-grids, which would displace inefficient diesel mills and reduce post-harvest losses.

• African agriculture suffers from low productivity and a significant 'value-addition gap', with only $40 per ton of value added post-harvest, which is one-fifth of the value added in high-income countries.
• Electricity demand in the African agro-processing sector is projected to double by 2030, with thirteen major value chains in sub-Saharan Africa expected to represent 6GW of demand.
• In Uganda, more than 60% of maize croplands can be most cost-effectively served by mini-grids, and over half of these areas currently lack known milling capacity.
• Financial constraints severely limit smallholder productivity in Uganda, where over 60% of maize farmers cannot afford any cash inputs for their farms.
• Post-harvest losses are a critical issue in sub-Saharan Africa; for all grains, the World Bank estimates annual losses at approximately $4 billion, exceeding the value of food aid received by the continent over the last decade.
• The document recommends three specific policy focus areas for the AU-EU partnership: reforming cooperative structures to leverage economies of scale, deploying mini-grids in farming communities, and increasing access to micro- and commercial finance alongside micro-enterprise training.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2020). Powering Agriculture: Unlocking Africa's Next Green Revolution. https://saiia.org.za/research/powering-agriculture-unlocking-africas-next-green-revolution/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Powering Agriculture: Unlocking Africa's Next Green Revolution. 2020. https://saiia.org.za/research/powering-agriculture-unlocking-africas-next-green-revolution/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Powering Agriculture: Unlocking Africa's Next Green Revolution |date=25 September 2020 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/powering-agriculture-unlocking-africas-next-green-revolution/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2020powering, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Powering Agriculture: Unlocking Africa's Next Green Revolution}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/powering-agriculture-unlocking-africas-next-green-revolution/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }