Farouk Gumel - Farouk Gumel - Africa’s Agriculture exports and the need for more processing locally
                     Africa’s Agriculture 
exports and the need 
for more processing 
locally
Farouk Gumel, Nigeria
Farouk Gumel -  Despite long standing 
recognition of the benefits of trade and the 
importance of improving competitiveness, 
Africa is performing beneath its potential in 
global and regional agricultural markets. 
Recent export growth has been offset by even 
larger growth in imports, caused by a booming 
population. More than 60 percent of the 
population of sub-Saharan Africa are 
smallholder farmers, and about 23 percent of 
sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP comes from 
agriculture. Yet, Africa’s full agricultural 
potential remains untapped. This has led to a 
deterioration of Africa’s trade balance. 
Intraregional trade, on the other hand, is 
growing, but remains significantly below the 
levels seen in other parts of the world.
Africa still has strong comparative advantages in 
many products which include traditional cash crops 
like coffee, cocoa and tea, as well as new products 
like legumes, pulses and sesame seeds. Some of 
these products are becoming the main staples of 
many African countries, including those classified 
as least developed countries (LDC). Many nations 
have started positioning themselves as 
specialist/centers of excellence in the production of 
exportable commodities. For example, Ghana and 
Ivory Coast are focusing on Cocoa, Comoros is 
focusing on spices and essential oils; Burundi and 
Rwanda on coffee and tea and many more.
To prove this, I have summarised Africa’s 
global leadership position on Tea, Cocoa, 
Cashew and Sesame for now. Below are some 
statistics.
Tea - Kenya has remained the leading African 
tea producer and boasted an output of over 
440,000 tons of tea. Combined with other 
East and Central African nations, Africa is now 
the second-biggest grower of tea in the world, 
producing tea of high quality and good bright 
colors which are used for blending all over the 
world. In 2018, African tea exports accounted 
for 23% of the world’s internationally traded 
teas.
Cocoa - Some 70 percent of the world's cocoa 
beans comes from four West African countries 
Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. The 
Ivory Coast and Ghana are by far the two largest 
producers of cocoa, accounting for more than 50 
percent of the world´s cocoa production.
Cashew - African farmers currently grow 48% of the 
world’s cashews annually. Ivory Coast, Tanzania, 
Guinea Bissau and Nigeria contribute much to it. 
Africa is now the largest producer of raw nuts with 
more than one million tons production.
Sesame - 59.4% of the world’s sesame is produced in 
Africa. As a region, Africa has quickly risen as the top 
producer and exporter passing India. Growth in 
production is mainly from Tanzania and Ethiopia.
One thing that is common amongst the 4 commodities above is most of the exports are 
in raw form. Little or no processing happens within Africa. This means as Africa exports 
the raw materials, the continent is also exporting all the jobs associated with processing, 
manufacturing, and packaging.
Raw cashew nuts for example are sold to Asian 
countries where significant value addition takes place 
before exporting the premium product to US and 
European market at higher rates. Of course, Asian 
nations also want to create jobs. But there is a need 
for a balance. Africa’s population rate is growing at a 
faster rate than the jobs we are creating. Unless a 
proper balance is struck, we will end up in a vicious 
circle of insecurity, hopelessness, and poverty.
Farouk Gumel said “TGI’s projects try to strike this 
balance where we aim to create jobs in both the 
producer and consumer nations”. Farouk Gumel adds 
that “as our business operations are located in both Asia 
and Africa, we are able to maintain an equilibrium that 
creates a win-win”. TGI’s investments focus on driving 
inclusivity and value addition using locally sourced raw 
materials, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and a 
highly skilled workforce to produce world class products. 
Farouk Gumel added, “TGI for example splits its cashew 
operations between Benin Republic, Nigeria and India. 
We have identified ways of meeting consumer needs 
while maximizing our impact within the producer 
nations. The key now is for the political leaders to also 
find ways of enhancing collaboration to ensure this win-
win is sustained”.
Farouk Gumel
Group Executive Director and Head of Agri-
Businesses for Tropical General Investment 
(TGI) Group.
THANK YOU!!