The Africa Agriculture Status Report of 2019 by AGRA highlights the trends and progress, as well as challenges and constraints of private sector firms in the upstream and midstream/downstream off-farm components of the agri-food system. The report start by revealing that although 70-80 percent of people in rural Africa work on their own farms, this work is often part-time, and comprises only 40 percent of total labor time in rural areas. Meanwhile, 60 percent of rural labor time is spent off the farm, and about 40 percent of this non-farm labor time is in agri-food system work such as wholesale, logistics, processing and retail. The private sector has a major role to play in the transformation of African agriculture. In particular, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be vital to the continent’s long-awaited green revolution. Currently, SMEs are the key employers in this sector, intertwined with rural family farmers.
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