Africa’s agri-food industry suffers from structural weaknesses: low productivity, lack of food
processing capability, and high incidence of food wastage. From 2016 to 2018, Africa imported
about 85% of its food from outside the continent, leading to an annual food import bill of US$
43bn, which is forecasted to reach US$ 110bn by 2025. Even if crop yields have increased,
significant investment needs to be channeled into post-harvest handling, including storage and
processing, for local food supply to become resilient.
83% of needed financing of Agri-SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa is unmet. There are ~130 thousands
of Agri-SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa. The current articulated demand of Agri-SMEs is estimated at
approximately USD 90 Bn annually in Sub-Saharan Africa of which only USD 15.5 Bn is currently
met. Even though agriculture employs up to 60% of the population and accounts for 30% of GDP
but the sector receives less than 5% of commercial bank lending and this money only goes to the
top of the pyramid.
