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.

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

2. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
Urbanisation and cities

3. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
Urbanisation and cities

4. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
Urbanisation and cities

5. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
3 The regional opportunities
4 Key messages
2 Food: The largest private sector
1 Changing demand

6. 17 %
37 %
2 %
16 %
27 %
Fruits & Vegetables Meat & Fish Dairy Cereals Others
ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat Diversifying diets
17 %
26 %
4 %
22 %
31 %
Urban Rural

7. Processed foods
39 %
Unprocessed foods
30 %
Cereals
27 %
Beverages
4 %
ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat Demand for convenience
Urban
36%
Rural
41%

8. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
3 The regional opportunities
4 Key messages
1 Changing demand
2 Food: The largest private sector

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

11. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
4 Key messages
1 Changing demand
2 Food: The largest private sector
3 The regional opportunities

12. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
Economic diversification
Non agricultural
40 %
Agriculture
60 %
178
USD billion
(2010)
Increasingly
non agricultural

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

14. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
0
22,5
45
67,5
90
Farming Farm labor Food processing Food marketing Food catering
15-24 25-40 Women
Source: Tchirley et al. (2016)
%
Nigeria in 2016
Shareofagegroupbysegment
No youth-specific activities

15. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat Different regional and local contexts
Source:Kargetal.(2016)
Concentration
of urban demand
Ouagadougou

16. ClubSAHEL AND
WEST AFRICA
Secretariat
1 Changing demand
2 Food: The largest private sector
3 The regional opportunities
4 Key messages

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