Addressing Africa’s food paradox one young person at a time

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Commodities exports represent almost a third of global trade and comprise three main groups – energy, agricultural products, and mining.

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Food items account for some 87% of the total agricultural export value, according to The State of Commodity Dependence report published by UN Trade and Development in July 2025.

For Africa, the agricultural sector is a strategic pillar of its export portfolio – but the continent faces a food paradox, with its agricultural import bill running into billions of dollars each year.

Listen/read: Africa’s food paradox

To course-correct, institutions such as the African Development Bank have directed resources towards bolstering agricultural production and value addition – including the regenerative agriculture project in Ethiopia’s Jimma Zone, the $18.8 million Regional West Africa Resilient Rice Value Chains Project, and the Women Climate Change Forum in Chókwè, Mozambique.

On a micro scale, private sector actors such as the Enterprising Regional Africa Network (Earn) are acting as multipliers to Africa’s agricultural growth story.

In this episode of The Business of Africa Podcast we speak to Joshua Chimakula Ngoma, founder and chief enabler of Earn – which describes itself as “a practical ecosystem for youth agripreneurship, climate smart agriculture, technology, market access and African enterprise growth” – about its efforts to change the narrative from dependence to value addition.

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