Presentation by Thomas Allen, Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD) at the Brussels Brief no. 48: "Strengthening rural livelihoods in the face of rapid urbanisation in Africa". The meeting was held in Brussels, Belgium on 20 March 2017.
Employment Opportunities in West African Food Systems
1. Strengthening rural livelihoods
in the face of rapid urbanisation in Africa
Employment opportunities in West African
food systems
Thomas Allen
Brussels, Belgium, 20 March 2017
ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
9. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
Size of the food economy
100 %c
178
USD billion
(2010)
36% of
regional GDP
100 %32
USD billion
(2010)
GDP Ghana
The region’s largest private sector
10. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
Food imports = 7%…
Imports
7 %
Domestic production
93 %
178
USD billion
(2010)
The domestic
food economy is
16x bigger than
the agricultural
export sector
11
USD billion
(2010)
Agricultural exports
InUSD-currentprices
13. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
Employment structure in the food economy
Food catering
2 %
Transport, marketing and retail
30 %
Food processing
8 %
Farming
60 %
13 m
FTE jobs
19 m
FTE jobs
Source: Tchirley et al. (2016) and author’s calculations
Nigeria in 2016
17. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
• Emerging opportunities in the West African
food economy
• Post-harvest segments of the food value
chains will experience the fastest growth
• Need to better understand the local contexts
and spatial dimensions of job creation
Key messages
18. Thank you for your attention
ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat