The Great Need
Globally, food security is a major cause of concern as the world's population is estimated to grow at an alarming rate. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports, world population is expected to grow by 2.3 billion people between 2009 and 2050. It is estimated that feeding a population of 9 billion would require a 70% increase in global food production by 2050. Thus, food production in the developing countries will have to almost double.
At the same time, endowed with its natural resources and diverse human capital, the African continent presents an opportunity for itself and a hope for the remaining world. Recently, it has emerged as the new center of food production for Europe, the Middle East, India and China. The continent has 807 million hectares of cultivable land, of which just 197 million hectares is currently being cultivated.
Global companies are making an entry into the continent to cultivate agricultural products that can be exported to larger markets. It is the preferred destination for companies and investment houses as the governments are proactive in encouraging global players into their markets for cross sharing of knowledge and technology. Firms are free to cultivate the land and raise any crop and sell it in the domestic market and also export.
The African climate is naturally conducive to cultivate crops all year around with warm days, cool nights, longer hours of sunshine etc. We, therefore, see a trend for the base of production shifting to Africa providing immense opportunities for the agri-business to flourish there.