Globally, agriculture faces mounting pressures. These are driven by climate change, land degradation, labour shortages, supply chain disruptions and the demand for food from a growing population.
At the same time, productivity is uneven. For example, maize yields in the US often exceed 10 tons per hectare. These high yields are driven by mechanisation, improved seed varieties, irrigation and efficient input use, supported increasingly by precision agriculture technologies. In contrast, yields in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa remain around 2-3 tons per hectare. This reflects constraints like limited access to inputs, reliance on rain-fed systems and weaker infrastructure and institutional support.
