Agriculture holds the key to transforming millions of lives across Africa. With 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, the continent has immense potential to feed itself—and the world. But for many rural communities, that potential is threatened by worsening environmental challenges. Every year, 13 million hectares of farmland are lost to desertification, making it harder for farmers to sustain their livelihoods. The stakes are high, but so is the opportunity to drive real change. In the latest episode of The Greenprint, we spotlight a few founders pioneering solutions to restore land, strengthen food systems, and create more prosperous communities across Africa. Watch the full video here https://lnkd.in/dp3bkcBJ and leave your thoughts in the comments. Delta40 is proud to partner with The Flip Catalyst Fund and Africa Climate Ventures to bring this series to life.
Farming is the #1 source of employment on the continent. Yet Africa’s agricultural productivity is the lowest of any region in the world. Nothing will impact more lives in Africa than a more productive agriculture sector. The opportunity is immense—60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land is on the continent—but the problems facing rural communities are also immense. Globally, we are losing 13 million hectares of farmland to desertification every year - that’s the size of Greece! In Morocco, it's causing century-old oases to disappear. In Kenya, the government subsidizes fertilizer to increase its utilization on farms, but the importation of cheap, synthetic fertilizer degrades the soil even further. Post-harvest loss is also a huge problem across the continent. Up to 40% of harvests don’t reach the market due to a lack of cold chain infrastructure, poor roads, and other factors. These problems are not only preventing Africa from reaching its farming potential, but they harm rural livelihoods. African cities are experiencing some of the largest rates of urbanization as people flee the rural areas in search of more sustainable work. In our latest episode of The Greenprint, The Flip’s series climate action and economic development on the continent, we meet the founders who are solving these problems and trying to make their communities a better and more prosperous place to live. Wissal Ben Moussa is the Co-founder & R&D Officer of Sand to Green, a Moroccan startup pairing regenerative agroforestry techniques with data and technology to turn the desert green. Samuel Rigu is the Co-founder & CEO of Safi Organics Ltd., a Kenyan company employing a decentralized process to locally manufacture organic fertilizers. Francis N. is the Founder of Keep IT Cool | Earthshot Prize Winner 24, a recent The Earthshot Prize winner, building cold chain storage to reduce post-harvest losses in Kenya. This episode was produced as part of our series on climate action in Africa, The Greenprint, in partnership with Catalyst Fund, Delta40 Venture Studio, Africa Climate Ventures, and Agbase - an initiative of Briter and Mercy Corps AgriFin. Watch the full episode of The Greenprint using the link in the comments below ??
