Africa needs an agricultural revolution, both to feed the growing population and to power the continent’s economic growth. And yet, despite decades of efforts, a slew of challenges from climate shocks to market shifts have hampered progress.
This was a flavor of the conversation at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda, last week. And I was struck by a simple solution that came up time and again: focus on farmer profitability.
“If the farmer prospers, then it means that our food systems are going to be resilient,” Elizabeth Wathuti, founder of the Green Generation Initiative, which promotes environmental community innovations in Africa, told me on a TIME panel hosted at the conference.
The challenge is not simply producing more food. Agricultural production has increased in Africa over the last few decades, but growth isn’t necessarily durable. Agri-food supports two-thirds of African livelihoods and generates a third of the continent’s GDP. But farmers generate less value than their counterparts elsewhere: about $1,500 per worker annually versus $4,300 globally, according to figures from AGRA, the organization formerly known as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. Higher profits mean more farmers can afford to stay in the business and younger people will be enticed to join, thereby creating a more sustainable food system for the continent.
Profitable farming isn’t just about feeding people, as important as that is. A developed agriculture sector creates opportunities for investment in processing, trading, and other functions along the agriculture value chain, leading to further economic growth opportunities. Only around 12-15% of Africa’s agricultural GDP comes from processing, compared to more than 60% in developed regions, according to AGRA. And agricultural outputs can be the basis of new industries: think of biofuels. From a climate perspective, too, higher profits create adaptive capacity. Farmers with margin can invest in irrigation, improved seeds, better soil health, or simply absorb a bad season.
“I don’t think food systems are part of the development or economic growth agenda, I think they ought to be the economic growth agenda,” Kingsley Moghalu, president at the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation and a former central banker in Nigeria, told me on the panel.
Beyond humanitarian concerns, there are more positive reasons for those of us on the outside to pay attention to the developments in Africa. For one, the fact that Africa and other developing countries are being hit so hard first may make them a natural place to innovate solutions before they migrate to other developed markets. And, second, more mature agri-food systems in Africa create opportunities for investors and companies to do business on the continent that might not have otherwise considered the region.
Above all, though, the discussion offered an interesting reframe that can apply across geographies and sectors. Indeed, in all sectors profitability may be a prerequisite for durable climate action.
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