Africa is foreseeing a rising future in the agriculture sector with having a young workforce and a huge area of cultivable arable land for farm plowing. There are many regions that possess large hectares of uncultivated land such as the Republic of Congo, Angola, Zambia, Cameroon, Mozambique, Gabon, Sudan, and Tanzania. This country will strongly rely on agriculture production for providing food security and boosting the economy by employing the latest methods of innovative farming. The local agriculture sector has a diversity of areas to flourish in such as crop production, horticulture, animal production, and dairy farming, etc. African youth will have ample opportunities in field farming with the rapid increase of employment prospects for them. There are growing numbers of next-generation young-age Africans about 15-24 years who will get not remain unemployed with more agriculture development in the country especially in regions of Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia will see a quick reduction in human poverty. The fresh labor workforce will help provide a rising trend in farm productivity with increased efficiency performance and better crop soil production. Below is the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis of the future of agriculture in Africa:
Strengths
- Maize crop will have an uprise growth trend to provide the food supply for the mass majority of the African country.
- White Maize will have a significant potential for export production in the region of Southern Africa.
- Small Holders farming will flourish with an integral role in African agriculture.
- Africa has a low-cost farming production which provides high yield crops with increased irrigation, and better utilization of fertilizers.
- The tropical climate of the country is highly favorable for the plantation of different variations of fruits and vegetables.
Weaknesses
- The Soil System of Africa is composed of less essential nutrients.
- The average crop yield is one ton per hectare.
- African agriculture is not yet developed with advanced modes of farming mechanization.
- Farmers are not much capable to perform planting and harvesting due to financial restrictions.
- Small Scale farmers have a shortage of reach to modern farming technologies and are far behind in the global competition.
Opportunities
- The African Nation boosts a greater population of a young workforce for rural agriculture development.
- There are a maximum amount of opportunities to help improve yields crops by the use of increased fertilizer and water irrigation systems for the fertile land.
- The rise in demand for organic farm vegetables and fruits.
- Bio-Diesel will provide improved demand for oilseeds.
- Small Scale farmers mastering the technical skills with hone their talent to find prospect into the commercial industry.
Threats
- Change of Climate in Sub-Sahara Africa will reduce the chances of crop production.
- The majority of African farm’s lands are less than 2 hectares in size with an increase in transaction costs.
- Sub-Saharan African Farmers are provided with the minimum incentive as compared to other countries of the world.
- Pest and Weeds diseases in crops provide severe harm to field production.
- The huge import competition provides serious harm to local farming trade.
Despite having all these positive and negative points, the future of agriculture in Africa is on a steady rise. The influx of modern and innovative mechanized farming is changing the face of farming in the country.