SDG 8 and the Case for Local Value Creation in Africa’s Food Value Chains

The global food system provides us with a lens to view some of the grand challenges facing societies today. Roughly 63% of the world’s poorest are involved in agricultural value chains (World Bank Group in Expanding Market Opportunities and Inclusive Private Sector Engagement in Agribusiness. https://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/document/Trade/CompSector_Agribusiness.pdf , 2023) and approximately 30% of global greenhouse gases (Crippa et al. in Nature Food 2(3):198–209, 2021) can be attributed to agricultural activity. Efforts to reduce poverty and halt climate change can be intrinsically linked to the production, distribution and consumption of food. In 2019, 884 million people were said to be employed within the agricultural industry, that is approximately 20% of the global workforce.