Scenarios of energy and agriculture in Africa

The report examines the energy-agriculture nexus in Africa, focusing on five case study countries: Cameroon, Mali, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. It develops three primary scenarios—Reference, Moderate Improvement, and Accelerated Growth—to project energy needs for on-farm activities, crop processing, and transport. The analysis highlights that while high-input mechanized farming significantly increases commercial energy intensity, food security gains in some contexts, such as Sudan, can be achieved without proportional increases in energy consumption. The document also explores the role of agro-industries and the potential for energy efficiency improvements in irrigation and crop curing.

• Agricultural growth is a primary driver of broader economic activity in Africa, with studies suggesting that each unit increase in agricultural activity results in approximately 1.5 units of overall economic growth.
• In Zimbabwe, a 'dualistic' agricultural sector exists where large-scale commercial farms (LSCFs) occupy only 21% of the farmed area but account for 98% of agricultural energy use due to their intensive use of mechanization and irrigation.
• Tobacco curing is identified as the most energy-intensive on-farm process in Zimbabwe and Tanzania; in Zimbabwe, it accounts for over half of all on-farm energy use.
• Scenario analysis for Sudan indicates that significant improvements in food security and production (up to 4.1% annual growth) can be achieved with only moderate increases in commercial energy use, suggesting that production gains are not strictly tied to high energy consumption.
• In Tanzania, agricultural processing energy is dominated by biomass fuels, specifically bagasse for sugar milling and firewood for tobacco curing, which together surpass all commercial fuel use in the Accelerated Growth scenario.
• The 'Accelerated Growth' scenario for Zimbabwe, targeting 4% annual production growth, would require a doubling of high-input farming area and a jump in fertilizer requirements of over 300% between 1990 and 2010.
• Data limitations in Mali and Cameroon prevented the development of quantitative scenario analyses, as national energy balances often report zero or minimal energy consumption for the agricultural sector.
• Modern high-input agriculture substitutes land and labor with energy-intensive inputs, such as chemical fertilizers, which can account for 50-60% of total energy-valued inputs for certain crops like maize in Zimbabwe or barley in the UK.

APA

Lazarus, M., Hansen, E., Hill, D., Karekezi, S., Majoro, L., Best, G., & Tschirley, J. (n.d.). Scenarios of energy and agriculture in Africa. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://cdn.leap.sei.org/documents/ch4_adb.pdf

Chicago

Lazarus, Michael, Evan Hansen, David Hill, Stephen Karekezi, Lugard Majoro, Gustavo Best, and Jeff Tschirley. Scenarios of energy and agriculture in Africa. Stockholm Environment Institute, n.d. https://cdn.leap.sei.org/documents/ch4_adb.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lazarus |first1=Michael |last2=Hansen |first2=Evan |last3=Hill |first3=David |last4=Karekezi |first4=Stephen |last5=Majoro |first5=Lugard |last6=Best |first6=Gustavo |last7=Tschirley |first7=Jeff |title=Scenarios of energy and agriculture in Africa |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |url=https://cdn.leap.sei.org/documents/ch4_adb.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lazarusndscenarios, author = {Lazarus, Michael and Hansen, Evan and Hill, David and Karekezi, Stephen and Majoro, Lugard and Best, Gustavo and Tschirley, Jeff}, title = {{Scenarios of energy and agriculture in Africa}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, url = {https://cdn.leap.sei.org/documents/ch4_adb.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }