Agriculture plays a dominant role in the economies of sub-Saharan African countries though productivity has historically lagged behind other regions. In the past two decades, agriculture has been re-prioritized in policy and governments are increasingly mobilizing funding from diverse sources to finance agricultural development projects.
Agreeing on a definition of poverty is central to producing valid and reliable measures. Defining poverty, and a normative adequate standard of living, also carries practical significance for targeting assistance and tracking outcomes. Common measures like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Gini coefficient are aggregates and cannot differentiate the global poor from the non-poor, nor were they intended to.
Through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) adopted in 2003, African countries have re-prioritized agriculture as a key lever for development. This priority was reinforced with the Malabo Declaration in 2014, when African leaders pledged to boost investment and productivity in agriculture through increased mobilization of public and private funding.