Agricultural Development

As policymakers and development practitioners aim to boost adoption of new technologies to promote sustainable agricultural development, they are increasingly turning to private sector companies for help. These companies can often provide marketing and financial incentives that the public sector cannot, making them an important potential pathway to reach farmers and increase their use of new technologies.

Livestock supports the livelihoods of around 1 billion people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (Thorne and Conroy 2017, Baltenweck et al. 2020). However, growth and productivity of the livestock sector in many LMICs are not keeping pace with the increasing demand for animal-source foods. Boosting the sector’s productivity is crucial for poverty reduction in LMICs, which continue to face multifaceted challenges and shocks that threaten the sustainability of food systems.

The past forty years have brought both progress and new challenges for African agriculture. While overall per capita food supplies have become more stable and agricultural productivity has improved, the region’s dependence on food imports has increased, from 39 percent between 1985-2000 to 46.6 percent between 2016-2023. In addition, the food security, livelihoods, and overall well-being of wide swathes of Africa’s population remain more vulnerable than ever before to the negative impacts of climate change, political instability and conflict, and economic shocks.

Food systems around the world face growing challenges. They must be transformed to sustainably feed a growing global population and made more resilient to shocks from extreme weather to conflict. Efforts on those fronts are increasingly interlinked—and depend on well-targeted local interventions.

Pastoralism has long been a hallmark of the cultural, social, and economic landscapes of the Sahel and West Africa, sustaining the livelihoods of over 20 million people. This age-old practice contributes nearly 15% to the GDP of Sahelian countries, serving not only as an economic mainstay but also fostering peace and resilience within communities. However, the sustainability of pastoralism is increasingly threatened by various external pressures, making robust global support essential to help the region adapt to the changing conditions.