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African Agriculture at a Climate Crossroads: Business Risks and Opportunities as the Continent Navigates the Growing Crisis
Africa’s food systems are under mounting pressure from climate change, as droughts, erratic rainfall, floods and heat waves increasingly undermine both crop and livestock production. But as Asamoah Oppong Zadok at Sustaina Harvest explains, despite the emergence of climate-smart innovations and resilience-focused initiatives, many stakeholders still prioritize short-term fixes and reactive crisis spending that leave deeper vulnerabilities intact. He argues that African agriculture faces a choice: remain trapped in a cycle of repeated shocks and emergency responses — or invest in technologies, ecosystems and people that can turn climate risk into opportunity, building healthy ecosystems and inclusive livelihoods over the long term.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
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Context Instead of Carbon: Why Climate Finance in Africa Must Shift its Focus from Mitigation to Adaptation
Global climate action has long been framed through a binary lens: either mitigation or adaptation. As Sheena Raikundalia at Kuza One explains, this framework shapes how funding flows, how projects are designed and even how “success” is measured: Mitigation attracts the bulk of funding because it produces measurable carbon outcomes and enables high-emitting countries to meet their net-zero targets, while adaptation's local benefits are harder to quantify, commodify or sell. She argues that this imbalance risks turning African landscapes into carbon farms for the Global North, and also obscures the fact that many of Africa’s most climate-smart solutions could be promising investments — if the current financing architecture would support them. NOTE: In celebration of our 20th anniversary, NextBillion is highlighting key guest articles from our two decades online. We’re currently focusing on the healthcare sector: You can read these featured articles below.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Investing
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Africa Needs Jobs — the Agri-Food Industry Can Provide Them: How the Sector Can Boost its Impact on Employment Across the Continent
Sub-Saharan Africa’s working-age population is projected to increase by more than 20 million per year until 2050. Yet according to Loïc De Cannière at Incofin Investment Management, the region created "only" 9 million jobs per year on average during the first two decades of this century. He argues that if job growth can't keep pace with this growing demographic, unemployment will likely lead to more poverty, societal unrest and migratory pressures. The solution, he explains, is to support the industries with the biggest potential for job creation, starting with the agri-food sector.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
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A New Green Revolution in Indian Agriculture: How Satellite Remote Sensing is Quietly Transforming the Sector
Satellite remote sensing involves the use of satellite-based sensors to capture data about the earth’s surface. According to Sat Kumar Tomer at Satyukt Analytics, this technology is increasingly being used by Indian farmers and the businesses and organizations that serve them, generating data on vegetation health, soil moisture, irrigation patterns and other key drivers of agricultural productivity. He explores how satellite remote sensing is enabling a data-driven revolution in Indian agriculture, and how the sector can overcome barriers to wider adoption.
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- Agriculture, Environment, Finance, Technology
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A Field-Based Perspective on Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture Crisis: Exploring the Four Critical Dimensions that are Driving Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is no longer just a humanitarian concern in sub-Saharan Africa: It is a business issue. According to Asamoah Oppong Zadok, a researcher and entrepreneur specializing in sustainable agriculture, it constitutes a fundamental business risk with far-reaching implications for the region's economic growth, supply chain stability and geopolitical resilience. He explores the multifaceted structural factors that are driving Africa's agriculture and food security crisis, exploring how business innovators, funders and policymakers can respond.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Technology
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Measuring Systems Change in Agricultural Finance in Africa: Practical Metrics and Guidance for Detecting and Tracking Real Change
Despite employing 65-70% of the region's population and contributing 20-40% of national GDPs, Africa's agriculture sector receives less than 3% of its overall commercial credit — and in some countries, that share hasn't changed for decades. But according to Carla Legros, a consultant and strategist in agricultural and inclusive finance, that doesn't necessarily mean that progress has stalled. She proposes a set of metrics for assessing whether systems change is actually happening in the continent's agricultural finance sector.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
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Building a Better AgTech Funding Model in Africa: Three Key Challenges Behind the Ecosystem’s Loss of Momentum
Startups operating at the nexus of climate and agriculture in Africa have attracted over $1 billion in venture funding over the past decade. But as David Saunders and Ludovica Fioravanti at Briter and Harsha Vishnumolakala at CPI explain, despite the important role this funding can play in supporting innovative African AgTech startups, it has fallen to around $200 million a year — less than half the $500 million raised in 2022. They explore the risks this decline presents to the continent's AgTech ecosystem, and share three key priorities for building a better funding model in Africa and other emerging markets.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing, Technology
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Funding African Solutions to the Climate Crisis: Why Local Venture Capital Innovation Holds the Key to Climate Resilience
Africa contributes just 4% of global carbon emissions and faces the world’s most devastating climate impacts — yet it receives only 3.3% of global climate finance (as of 2021/22). Dotun Olowoporoku and Dolapo Morgan at Ventures Platform argue that this disparity presents an urgent need for locally-developed innovation driven by African venture capital. They explore how African VCs can leverage this opportunity to play a central role in the continent’s climate response.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Investing
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