Agricultural Input Business Development in Africa: Opportunities, Issues and Challenges

The objective of this study is to review experiences, identify opportunities and make practical recommendations for agricultural input business development in Africa. The underlying premise is that economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa can be achieved by enhancing the productivity and profitability of agriculture through the development of the agricultural input sector in Africa. The study is articulated around the following inter-related components:

• The current state of agricultural input production, marketing and consumption in a. Africa, using quantitative and qualitative data with the goals of identifying primary investment, business/trade opportunities and constraints, risks and challenges from the private sector perspective;
• The existing partnerships and initiatives in the agricultural input business sector b. in Africa, especially the Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), cooperatives and joint ventures in order to address the factors that impede agricultural input use in Africa and document best practices, lessons and challenges in fostering the agricultural input business development in the region;
• The prospective and potential successful business alliances and partnerships in the c. agricultural input sector in order to tap the under-exploited market opportunities at national, regional and international levels while strengthening commodity value chains; and
• A strategic framework for sustainable agricultural input business development in Africa d. to identify key policy and support actions aimed at strengthening the agricultural input investment climate towards a market-led development in the sector.