The continent of Africa is blessed with natural resources and most especially large expanse of land area suitable for agricultural production. But despite this huge deposit of untapped resources and opportunities in the continent, it is very appalling to know that many of the countries in Africa are homes to the poorest of the poor and vulnerable people across the globe. The continent is faced with multi-faceted problems of insecurity arising from the activities of violent extremists and marginalized sect, decaying infrastructural facilities exacerbated by corruption and prolonged neglect, rising youth unemployment occasioned by bad governance and inadequate planning coupled with dwindling income resulting from poor and inadequate production technologies. However, in spite of the worsening food crisis situation and constraints to agricultural transformation in Africa, agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood for most Africans (especially those residing in the rural areas) remains the economic nerve centre considering its contribution to the African economy in terms of labor employment and share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Thus, the task of poverty reduction in Africa portends a moving target as the number of poor and undernourished people keeps increasing. This paper therefore examined the link between agriculture and poverty in Africa. The problems and prospects of African agriculture were x-rayed, the poverty situation in Africa and the likely causes were also highlighted. The paper suggests a bottom-up (also called community-driven development) approach to policy formulation through involvement of farmers in policy discussions at both national and international levels starting from project/problem identification to evaluation. There is the need for partnerships between government and private sector in the area of input and infrastructure provision. This is very important considering the fact that government alone can no longer shoulder the responsibility of providing and maintaining infrastructures due to declining revenue. Farm level processing and value addition should be encouraged by government through the provision of enabling environment and farmers should endeavour to join and participate in cooperative activities so as to enhance their access to credit, markets and benefit from collective bargaining power in terms of input acquisition and getting support from government and prospective funders.

Economic growth and poverty reduction now take the centre stage in most global policy discourse. This is coming at a time that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are fast gaining global relevance. Africa has witnessed the highest but non-inclusive level of growth in the last decade because the continent still grapples with high unemployment rate especially among the youths. This paper therefore examines some drivers of and constraints to growth and poverty reduction in Africa. The paper focused on Africa by using secondary data sourced from different such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Transparency International (TI), Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports and Annual Abstract of Statistics. Analytical methods employed were mainly descriptive statistics and comparative statistics. Findings showed that economic growth recorded in the continent is a ‘jobless’ one advancing inequality and poverty. More so, 75 percent of countries with low human development are in Africa with the continent’s consistent economic growth imparting insignificantly on the livelihoods of the people. In fact, 27 out of 54 African countries were reported to have GDP of less than $USD 2000 per capita. GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa was estimated at 4.9 percent in 2013 and this increased to 5.3 percent in 2014 and further estimated to rise to 5.5 percent in 2015. The fight against inequality, poverty and unemployment is tantamount to aiming a moving target. Youth unemployment remains a component of Africa’s growth owing to persistent low productivity and underemployment in the informal sector. The resultant implication of this is manifested through persistent inequality, poverty, armed conflict and unchecked migration of young people to industrialised nations in search of the non-existing livelihood opportunities. This paper therefore recommends increased and monitored investments in critical infrastructural facilities. There is a need for multilevel and multinational partnership in the fight against corruption and social conflict to attract foreign direct investment. Investment in social security programmes will also assist the poor and vulnerable people in the continent.

There is no gainsaying the fact that demand for proteins has continuously outweighed supply in Nigeria. This is largely due to the rising population on one part and the low level of technology to cope with changing production practices specifically in the fishery sub-sector and agricultural production in general on the other part. The resultant effect of this is the widening demand and supply gap which often culminate in farmers devising different technologies or approaches to mediate the shortfall. This study therefore examined comparative analysis of technical efficiency among catfish producers using different construction designs in Lagos State, Nigeria. A sample consisting of 43 earthen catfish producers, 33 cage culture and 37 plastics tank was selected from three agricultural zones in the state. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, budgetary and profitability analysis, regression analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis approach. Overall average technical efficiency estimates obtained under the Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) and Constant Returns to Scale (CRS) specification for earthen catfish producers were 0.92 and 0.73, respectively. The overall average technical efficiency estimates for VRS and CRS specification under cage culture catfish producers were 0.92 and 0.79, respectively, and overall mean estimates obtained for VRS and CRS specification under plastic tank catfish producers were 0.95 and 0.69, respectively. However, for CRS under earthen pond, two variables, sex and age of farmer with t values of − 2.10 and 1.82, were equally significant. Again, for CRS under cage culture, two variables were significant, and these were years of formal education and primary occupation with t values of − 2.09 and 2.16. Under CRS for plastic tank, two variables—age and religion with t values of 2.04 and 1.99—were significant at 5 and 10%, respectively. The study concludes that the most efficient and profitable construction designs among earthen, cage culture and plastic tank are the earthen pond. This is because of its cost-effectiveness in terms of design and management as well as the limited impact on the environment. As indicated, years of formal education were significant in all the designs revealing that education plays a pivotal role in efficiency. The implication of the findings is that famers should be better educated on the dangers inherent in polluting water bodies to avoid contamination (since the earthen pond is the most efficient) to enhance catfish production if the much desired production increase is to be sustained.

Land acquisition and use remain a critical issue of great policy relevance in developing countries such as Nigeria. This study therefore examined land acquisition and use in Nigeria within the context of food and livelihood security. The chapter used secondary data obtained from the World Bank website, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and other sources. It was found that there are gender, location and income-group considerations in the allocation of land in Nigeria. While the urban land market is relatively more formal, the rural land market is informal and the transactions were not documented in most cases. The study found that bureaucratic bottlenecks, high cost of registering land and long registration procedures, and inconsistent policy regimes impede the development of land market in Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the government should reduce and make the processes to be completed in registering lands in Nigeria easier. The Land Use Act 1978 should be amended to capture the prevailing realities around customary laws and informal markets. The government should reduce the cost of land registration in Nigeria. Multilateral organisations and government should co-create and co-finance innovative interventions to improve activities in the land market.

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa produce the bulk of the food consumed by inhabitants of these countries despite their poor working conditions in terms of access to inputs, improved technology and basic infrastructure. Climate change, unstable micro- and macroeconomic conditions coupled with the rising poverty situation have even made the matter worse for them. This has aggravated their living conditions and dwindling interest in agriculture. In Nigeria, agriculture remains the largest employer of labour providing livelihood for over 70% of the population. The paper relied on primary data collected through structured questionnaire on a random sample of 360 smallholder farmers in southwest Nigeria using a multistage sampling procedure. The data were collected in March and September, being the peak of dry and raining seasons in the country. Respondents’ distribution by age indicates average age to be 45 years with about one-third having tertiary education and 36% having no formal education. Also, about two-thirds were estimated to be vulnerable going by the vulnerability benchmark constructed using the consumption expenditure data collected in both seasons. A probit analysis employed shows that respondents’ age, gender, years of formal education, household size, membership of cooperatives, access to inputs, access to extension services, distance to markets and price situation are major determinants of vulnerability to seasonal fluctuations in production and marketing in the study area.

Smallholder agricultural sector in South Africa is regarded as one of the main livelihood options for the majority of people living in rural areas. As such, many of the poorest people living in rural areas regard smallholder subsistence agriculture as an important strategy to move out of food poverty and malnutrition. Food security has since been the goal that needs to be achieved by every nation given the agricultural sector reason to be productive enough to meet the food demand of each nation. The purpose of this paper is to provide information on the role and potential of smallholder farmers as being the drivers of achieving food security in South Africa. The paper identifies key references backing up this claim and suggests some recommendations which could help improve the synergy between food security and productivity of smallholder farmers in South Africa.