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As many as 440 million youths (defined as people under the age of 30) are expected to join Africa’s labor market by 2030. If the labor market cannot support this enormous population with adequate employment and livelihood opportunities, it poses serious threats to the region’s stability, economic development, and food security.

Average crop yields in much of Africa lag far below their agronomic potential. This is the case for coffee grown by smallholders in Uganda—agronomy experts estimate they could more than double their yields by applying optimal management practices. Increased coffee production is a key strategy of the government of Uganda for boosting both national earnings of foreign exchange and improving the livelihoods of the country’s 1.8 million small-scale coffee farmers, who produce nearly all of the country’s coffee.

Climate change is transforming the global landscape, creating unprecedented challenges for developing countries. These challenges are particularly acute in regions where economies heavily depend on agriculture, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where climate impacts such as droughts and extreme weather are increasingly disrupting farming economies and food systems. One of the critical questions facing policymakers is how to best navigate these challenges to ensure sustainable development: Does the threat of climate change significantly undermine strategies focusing on agriculture?

Malawi continues to face a looming food crisis, according to the latest alerts from IPC and FEWS Net.  

On January 12, 2024, trade between Rwanda and Burundi came to a halt when the border crossing was unexpectedly closed. Food prices in Rwanda may have been expected to fluctuate more than normal as a result—both falling prices for commodities typically exported to Burundi that instead began flooding local markets and rising prices for commodities typically imported from Burundi that faced suddenly limited local supply.