Keypoints:
- Horizon, Aavishkaar, KfW leaders give views
- Finance, youth, and policy drive farming change
- Climate and trade shape Africa’s food future
AFRICA’S agriculture sector is undergoing a pivotal shift, driven by rising demand, innovation, and an urgent need for resilience. To understand where the industry is headed, Africa Briefing spoke with three influential voices: Jomy Antony of Horizon Group, Darren Lobo of Aavishkaar Capital, and Dr Markus Aschendorf of German development bank KfW. Together, their perspectives point to an agricultural landscape that is both fraught with challenges and rich in opportunity.
Shifting market dynamics
For Jomy Antony, the chief executive of Horizon Group, the transformation of African agriculture is not merely about technology but about market readiness. Horizon Group is a diversified agribusiness company investing in commercial farming, food processing, and export logistics across Africa. The firm has positioned itself as a bridge between smallholder producers and large-scale markets, focusing on integrated value chains that reduce post-harvest losses and improve farmer incomes.
Antony argued that Africa’s youth are central to the sector’s future. ‘We are seeing a generation that is more connected, more informed, and ready to view farming as a business rather than a subsistence activity,’ he said.
He noted that this generational shift is already visible in the spread of agritech start-ups, often led by young entrepreneurs. These ventures are pioneering digital marketplaces, drone technology, and AI-powered soil testing. ‘Youth are not waiting for solutions to be imported,’ he explained. ‘They are building them locally, adapted to African realities.’
Antony also emphasised that the continent’s food imports, worth billions of dollars annually, are unsustainable. Building competitive domestic value chains, he argued, is critical to reducing dependency on external markets. This requires more than growing crops; it demands investment in logistics, storage, and distribution to ensure that smallholder farmers can reliably access buyers across borders. ‘The farmer’s job should not end at the farm gate,’ Antony said. ‘We must connect them all the way to the consumer.’
Innovation as survival
Darren Lobo, director at Aavishkaar Capital, believes finance and innovation are inseparable in agriculture. Aavishkaar is one of the pioneers of impact investing in Asia and Africa, channelling capital into early-stage and growth businesses across agriculture, financial inclusion, and renewable energy. Its African investments are aimed at strengthening agritech start-ups and medium-scale enterprises that can deliver both financial returns and measurable social impact.
‘We cannot talk about food security without talking about capital flows,’ Lobo said. ‘Farmers need access to affordable finance, and investors need regulatory environments that reduce risk.’
He pointed to precision farming, digital platforms for crop insurance, and mobile-based credit systems as the new lifelines for small and medium agribusinesses. ‘These tools allow farmers to manage risks that were previously devastating, from pest outbreaks to unpredictable rains,’ he said.
Lobo also argued that Africa needs to rethink how capital is structured for agriculture. Short-term financing, he said, does not align with farming cycles that can span years. ‘What we need is patient capital — money that understands agriculture’s seasonality and volatility,’ Lobo explained. In his view, donor-driven funding has long sustained African farming, but real transformation will only come when private capital steps in with long-term commitments.
Capital, regulation, and the road ahead
For Dr Markus Aschendorf, Head of Division at KfW, public policy and regulation remain the critical enablers of agricultural growth. KfW is one of Europe’s largest development banks, providing finance for infrastructure, climate resilience, and private-sector growth in emerging markets. In Africa, the bank has played a central role in funding rural electrification, irrigation systems, and agribusiness projects designed to lift smallholders out of poverty.
‘We see enormous potential in Africa’s agriculture, but this potential will only be realised if policy frameworks encourage investment and protect smallholders,’ Aschendorf said.
He highlighted the importance of blended finance, where public funds de-risk private sector investment in rural infrastructure, irrigation, and renewable energy for farming communities. He pointed to KfW-backed projects in East Africa, where such models have attracted commercial lenders to sectors they previously considered too risky.
He warned, however, that inconsistent policies often undermine such gains. Land tenure insecurity, unclear water rights, and weak cross-border trade regimes can stall investment. ‘If rules change from one season to the next, investors will simply look elsewhere,’ he said.
Climate pressures add further urgency. Aschendorf noted that unpredictable rainfall and rising temperatures could undermine hard-won progress unless resilience measures are scaled up. For him, climate-smart agriculture — practices such as conservation tillage, drought-resistant seeds, and solar-powered irrigation — is not optional but a prerequisite for Africa’s food future.
Bridging insights into action
Taken together, the insights from Antony, Lobo, and Aschendorf paint a picture of an agricultural sector in transition. Antony’s call for stronger domestic value chains, Lobo’s focus on finance and innovation, and Aschendorf’s emphasis on policy and resilience converge on a single theme: Africa must move from subsistence to sustainability.
The leaders agree that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could be a game-changer by expanding regional markets, but only if infrastructure and regulatory barriers are tackled head-on. They also share the view that the private sector cannot carry the burden alone — governments must create the enabling environment for investment to thrive.
The next frontier
As Africa’s population surges towards 1.5bn by 2030, agriculture will remain both a livelihood for millions and a strategic sector for governments. What these leaders reveal is not just a story of challenges but of a sector poised for reinvention.
If youth engagement, capital flows, and policy coherence align, Africa could not only feed itself but also become a major exporter to the world. As Antony put it: ‘This is Africa’s moment to take ownership of its food future.’
