REPORT: Regenerative agriculture’s $70bn potential for Africa

Africa Regenerative Agriculture Study Group, 2021. Regenerative Agriculture: An opportunity for businesses and society to restore degraded land in Africa.#62 p.

 
Recent research has shown that land degradation has had, and will have, severe impacts on crop production and supply chains in Africa. Regenerative agriculture has been found to be an important part of the solution.

This new report commissioned by IUCN and the UNFCCC High Level Champions and steered by a working group of African partners ahead of Climate COP26 in Glasgow provides compelling, quantitative evidence of the positive impacts of regenerative agricultural practices. This report presents the case for regenerative agriculture to play a key role within broader land restoration activities and its potential to benefit smallholder farmers, business and society. It demonstrates the benefits of a transition to practices such as agroforestry and soil management as methods to boost yields, improve human nutrition and livelihoods, supporting soil and ecosystem health. The report also looks ahead with detailed forecasts up to the year 2040.

This report presents the case for one approach, which could play a role within broader land restoration activities, through contributing to mitigating risks in supply chains and building resilience to climate change by 2030 and beyond. 

Regenerative agriculture broadly encompasses both conservation agriculture and more sustainable agroforestry techniques. These practices increase crop productivity, enhance soil fertility, improve water retention, and create other ecosystem services, generating extensive economic, mitigation, adaptation and social benefits. 

This report shows that regenerative practices in Africa could be adding more than $15 billion in Gross Value Added1 per year by 2030, increasing up to $70 billion by 2040 (one fifth of the current agricultural GDP of sub-Saharan Africa). This in turn could create upwards of 1 million additional full-time jobs by 2030, reaching nearly 5 million jobs by 20402. Although regenerative agriculture can initially be time and labour intensive, businesses that stick with it are seeing yield impacts ranging from 68% up to 300%3. Companies that engage local communities, extend investment and financing across the supply chain, and leverage digital access can significantly scale regenerative practices, with programs in the case studies examined having already reached over 100,000 farmers. 

Large agribusinesses in Africa, whose supply sources are tied to small farm holders, can drive the uptake of these practices to ensure the long-term viability of their supply chains. To further incentivise business, it will be important to provide access to finance, mobile digital tools, and other mechanisms to support regenerative agriculture and other food systems transitions, whilst also driving change in lands and rights issues, so that farmers themselves directly benefit from sustainable land restoration strategies. The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can also offer a framework to further prioritise these opportunities.

Podcast: Regenerative agriculture’s $70bn potential for Africa