There is a narrative that has become almost synonymous with African agriculture.
We often hear that the continent needs more farmers, more production and more land under cultivation to feed a growing population and supply global markets.
There is truth in that argument.
Agricultural productivity across much of Africa remains well below its potential, and increasing production will continue to be an important priority. Yet I increasingly believe we are asking the wrong question.
The bigger challenge is not whether Africa can grow more. It is whether Africa can capture more value from what it already grows.
Agriculture contributes roughly 15–20% of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP and provides livelihoods for well over half of the region’s population. The continent is also home to around 60% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, giving it enormous long-term production potential.
Yet Africa accounts for less than 3% of global food and agricultural exports by value, a reminder that much of the economic value created from agricultural products is captured elsewhere rather than where they are grown.
The reason becomes clear when you look at global value chains.
Africa is responsible for around 70% of the world’s cocoa bean production, yet captures only a small fraction of the more than US$130 billion global chocolate industry because most processing and manufacturing occurs outside the continent. The same pattern exists across coffee, spices, tea, horticulture and many medicinal plants. Countries export raw commodities while importing finished products at significantly higher prices.
This matters because the economics of agriculture change dramatically once processing enters the equation.
A farmer selling fresh herbs, for example, is constrained by shelf life, freight costs, weather disruptions and market gluts. Fresh products often have only a matter of days to reach consumers, which means expensive air freight, tight logistics and significant rejection risk if quality deteriorates.
Processing fundamentally changes that equation. Drying can extend shelf life from days to well over a year while reducing product weight by as much as 80–90%, depending on the crop. Lower transport costs, longer storage periods and access to ingredient markets mean processors are no longer competing only in the fresh produce aisle. They are supplying food manufacturers, seasoning companies, pharmaceutical businesses and natural ingredient processors around the world.
The same principle applies well beyond herbs. Whether it is coffee, tea, macadamia nuts, chillies, fruit or medicinal plants, processing allows producers to move further up the value chain and capture a larger share of the final product’s value.
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The opportunity is particularly important because Africa loses an estimated 30–40% of food produced after harvest, according to the FAO. In fruit and vegetable value chains, post-harvest losses can exceed 50% in some markets because of inadequate storage, limited cold chain infrastructure and insufficient processing capacity.
Those losses represent more than wasted food. They represent income that farmers never earn, exports that never happen and jobs that are never created.
Processing changes that equation by creating demand for produce that may not meet fresh retail specifications but remains perfectly suitable for drying, extraction or manufacturing. Instead of becoming waste, those products become ingredients.
The economic impact extends well beyond the processor itself.
The African Development Bank estimates that the continent’s food and agriculture market could grow from approximately US$300 billion today to US$1 trillion by 2030. Achieving that transformation will require much more than increasing production. It will require investment in processing facilities, logistics, storage, packaging, quality assurance, laboratories, renewable energy, cold chains and export infrastructure.
Every processing facility creates demand for farmers while simultaneously creating skilled jobs in engineering, food science, quality management, maintenance, manufacturing, logistics and product development. These are precisely the kinds of industries that help diversify rural economies and make agriculture more resilient.
At the same time, global demand for natural ingredients continues to expand. The global herbs and spices market is already valued at well over US$20 billion and continues to grow as consumers demand more natural flavourings, healthier foods and plant-based ingredients. International buyers are increasingly looking for suppliers that can provide not only raw materials, but also consistent quality, traceability, food safety certification and reliable processing capacity.
Over the past few weeks, I have found myself spending as much time thinking about dryers, processing equipment and ingredient markets as I have thinking about planting schedules and greenhouse expansion. Those conversations have reinforced a simple but important idea: the future of our business may depend as much on what happens after harvest as what happens before it.
That does not mean farming becomes less important. Quite the opposite. Every successful processor still depends on a network of productive farmers growing high-quality crops. Primary production remains the foundation of the value chain. The difference is that processing allows more of the economic value generated by that production to remain within our own economies.
This is not an argument for choosing between farming and processing. It is an argument for building agricultural businesses that do both.
If Africa wants to become a global agricultural powerhouse, we cannot measure success only by how many tonnes we produce or how many hectares we cultivate. We should also ask how much of the value created by those crops stays on the continent, how many industries they support and how many businesses they help build.
Growing more will always matter.
