The Africa Competitiveness Report 2015

The report analyzes why Africa missed the 'green revolution' that benefited Asia, citing ecological differences, inadequate policies, and low investment. It argues that transforming African agriculture requires a tailored approach focusing on high-yield crops suited to local soils, increased irrigation to reduce rain-fed dependence, and the adoption of ICTs and biotechnology. The document also emphasizes the need for land reforms to secure tenure and the integration of smallholder farmers into regional and global agricultural value chains to enhance inclusiveness and productivity.

• Agriculture is a vital but underproductive sector in Africa, employing 50 percent of the labor force while contributing an average of around 15 percent of GDP for the continent.
• Africa failed to benefit from the green revolution due to a combination of ecological factors, such as less fertile soils compared to Asia, and a lack of research focused on African staple foods and agro-ecological systems.
• Low investment in agriculture is a significant barrier; African governments reduced average spending on the sector from 4.5 percent of total expenditure in 2001 to 2.5 percent in 2012, failing to meet the 10 percent target of the 2003 Maputo Declaration.
• There is a critical overreliance on rain-fed farming, with only 4 percent of crop areas irrigated in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 39 percent in South Asia and 29 percent in East Asia.
• Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are being leveraged to improve agricultural value chains, such as M-PESA in Kenya for financial inclusion and the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) to reduce price information asymmetries, increasing farmer income by 10 to 30 percent.
• The adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops is very limited in Africa, with only Burkina Faso, Egypt, South Africa, and Sudan currently farming them, despite evidence that GM crops can reduce chemical pesticide use by 37% and increase yields by 22%.
• Poor land governance and customary laws lead to unequal distribution and insecure tenure, particularly disadvantaging women; for example, in Côte d’Ivoire, only 5.56 percent of women own land compared to 7.14 percent of men.
• Integration into agricultural value chains (AVCs) is hindered by poor domestic productive capacity and infrastructure, with some estimates suggesting African firms lose 25 percent of their output due to the poor business environment.

APA

MOYO, J. M., BAH, E.-H. M., & VERDIER-CHOUCHANE, A. (2015). The Africa Competitiveness Report 2015. World Economic Forum. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ACR_2015/ACR_Chapter2.1_2015.pdf

Chicago

MOYO, JENNIFER MBABAZI, EL-HADJ M. BAH, and AUDREY VERDIER-CHOUCHANE. The Africa Competitiveness Report 2015. World Economic Forum, 2015. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ACR_2015/ACR_Chapter2.1_2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=MOYO |first1=JENNIFER MBABAZI |last2=BAH |first2=EL-HADJ M. |last3=VERDIER-CHOUCHANE |first3=AUDREY |title=The Africa Competitiveness Report 2015 |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=2015 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ACR_2015/ACR_Chapter2.1_2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{moyo2015africa, author = {MOYO, JENNIFER MBABAZI and BAH, EL-HADJ M. and VERDIER-CHOUCHANE, AUDREY}, title = {{The Africa Competitiveness Report 2015}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2015}, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ACR_2015/ACR_Chapter2.1_2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }