Agriculture employs nearly one-half of the labour force in developing countries. Indeed, a high share of rural communities and especially the rural poor are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture through farming, food processing, fishing, forestry, and trade. Agriculture is the backbone of Africa’s economy.
However, in developing countries, lack of post-harvest infrastructure and downstream processing is one of the most common constraints to developing commercial agriculture, improving food availability, and expanding off-farm employment. Development efforts to improve farm-level productivity may be undermined by poor access to crop aggregation, storage, and processing facilities, leading to severe post-harvest losses and limiting farmer access to more distant domestic or international markets.
In the meantime, it is important to consider agriculture as a viable business (agribusiness) that could be capitalized on by increasing productivity and commercially adding value to agricultural activities in order to ensure food security and take advantage of the opportunities it provides, particularly in rural areas.
Agribusiness impacts agricultural and economic development through both upstream and downstream activities. The efficient distribution of agricultural inputs such as improved seeds and fertilizer is essential for increasing farm-level production and productivity. Therefore, the effectiveness of agribusinesses directly affects rural household incomes and in turn economic growth. Similarly, agribusinesses involved in the processing and marketing of agricultural commodities add value, therefore impacting the profitability of agro-enterprises.
However, low technical capacity of agribusiness firms as well as the limited skills of agribusiness managers and employees continue to inhibit the expansion of agribusiness. As a result, the primary goal of this training program has been to build the capacity of local agribusiness managers and companies so that they can effectively contribute to the sustainable growth and development of agriculture in order to improve food security.