Forestry - Agroforestry: Africa Captures Less Than 10% of the Global Value Generated by Its Resources
Although over 100 million hectares of African land are dedicated to tree crops, local economies retain less than 10% of the revenue generated on the global market by their own tree resources.
Listen to the article
Click to generate the audio version
Statistics confirm Africa's absolute dominance in several key sectors. In fact, continental production provides 96.3% of karite nuts, 80 to 90% of gum arabic, 70% of cocoa beans, 55% of cashews, as well as almost all of the world's supplies of crude baobab and argan oil. Despite holding 16% of the planet's forest areas, the continent generates less than 2% of the value of global exports of derived products, penalized by the lack of refining, processing, and certification plants.
Economic dependence is critical for 11 countries south of the Sahara: cocoa thus represents 20% of global exports and 50% of agricultural sales in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and São Tomé and Principe, while coffee supports the external trade of Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda in identical proportions. In Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, the activity relies on a basket grouping wood, cocoa, rubber, and palm oil. Post-harvest losses exacerbate this situation, reaching up to 44% for perishable fruits due to the deficit in storage infrastructure. Finally, the medical potential of 5,400 recorded plant species offering 16,000 therapeutic applications, such as Prunus africana used in pharmacology, remains under-exploited on a continent where only three states (South Africa, Namibia, and Ethiopia) have a national policy dedicated to the bioeconomy.
The absence of local processing and transformation units forces producers to sell their crops at a low price on international markets. The transfer of refining, processing, and distribution operations to Western and Asian industries captures almost all of the beneficial margins.
The adoption of industrial policies focused on bioeconomic transformation would make it possible to enhance the value of plant resources on African soil. The structuring of regional value chains and investment in modern storage capacities would create millions of rural jobs while maximizing customs and tax revenues.
Nlend Flore
Comments