Resource information
The importance of agriculture in the
economies of sub-Saharan African countries cannot be
overemphasized. With agriculture accounting for about 65
percent of the region's employment and 75 percent of
its domestic trade, significant progress in reducing hunger
and poverty across the region depends on the development and
transformation of the agricultural sector. Transforming
agriculture from largely a subsistence enterprise to a
profitable commercial venture is the prerequisite and
driving force for accelerated development and sustainable
economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The rationale behind
the development of agribusiness indicators (ABIs) is to
construct indicators for specific factors to support
successful, effective private sector involvement in
agriculture. The indicators can be used to benchmark and
monitor performance in the agricultural sector over time and
across countries. The resulting information can provoke
knowledge flows and meaningful dialogue among policy makers,
government officials, donors, private sector actors, as well
as other stakeholders in the agricultural sector. This study
is predicated on the fact that agriculture is the backbone
of the economies of most countries in sub-Saharan Africa,
including Kenya. The ultimate aim is to stimulate debate and
dialogue among policy makers in specific African countries
to engender change and reform in areas where investment is
needed to leverage agribusiness and economic development.
This study relied heavily on an extensive secondary data
collection and literature review, supplemented by informal
surveys to solicit information from a broad spectrum of
stakeholders and actors in Kenya's agricultural sector.
The review and interviews focused on the factors that the
agribusiness indicators team determined to be the most
critical for agribusiness development across sub-Saharan
Africa, based on extensive scoping missions in three pilot
countries (Ghana, Ethiopia, and Mozambique). This report is
organized into following chapters: chapter one gives
introduction; chapter two presents ABI methodology; chapter
three presents findings on the success factors and
indicators; and chapter four gives concluding remarks.
