Africa looks to mechanisation for agricultural transformation

As much as 86 per cent of Africa's 1.5 billion people is employed in agriculture. But heavy reliance on manual labour and low mechanisation is leading to worsening food insecurity in the continent, making the country poorly equipped to adapt to new challenges.

This is what emerged at the Africa Conference on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (ACSAM), a continental gathering organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the government of the United Republic of Tanzania, that sought to reframe mechanisation as a catalyst for Africa’s agricultural transformation.

The four-day conference, which ran in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from February 3-6, 2026, brought together farmers, academic researchers, private sector leaders, civil society, youth, mechanisation service providers and government officials, among other African agricultural stakeholders, to exchange experiences, challenge assumptions and explore practical pathways for accelerating sustainable agricultural mechanisation across the continent.  

Africa has the lowest agricultural mechanisation rate globally, with less than five per cent of its cultivated land using mechanical power, leaving 50- 85 per cent of farm work to be done largely by hand. This has made farming laborious in return for poor yields, making it unattractive and driving people away from the land.

While the continent's population is ballooning, its agricultural output is declining due to growing labour shortages, rising production costs, climate variability and limited access to finance and appropriate technologies, among other challenges.

Experts at the conference noted that while hunger is declining globally, it was saddening that in Africa — a continent where most labour is devoted to farming — hunger is actually increasing, with over 20 per cent (over 307 million) of the continent’s citizens being classified as food insecure in 2025. Experts at the conference emphasised that it is high time farming on the continent becomes mechanised to make it safer, more productive and dignified.

“Choosing a new direction that embraces mechanisation, digitalisation, scientific innovation and inclusive policies can fundamentally transform Africa’s agri-food landscape,” FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa Abebe Haile-Gabriel, told the conference. He pointed out that sustainable mechanisation is crucial to uplifting the continent’s agricultural productivity, highlighting that when embedded in local ecosystems, mechanisation creates skilled jobs, reduces the drudgery, improves efficiency, cuts losses and enables climate-smart practices.

Haile-Gabriel warned that continuing with suboptimal approaches risks perpetuating food insecurity, poverty and environmental degradation.

Africa’s agricultural mechanisation lag 

According to FAO, Africa holds around half of the world’s uncultivated arable land — about 202 million hectares — presenting enormous potential for food production. At the same time, Africa’s crop yields are only 56 per cent of the global average, and despite about 60 per cent of Africa’s population depending on agriculture for jobs and livelihoods, the sector contributes only a mere 21 per cent of the continent’s gross domestic product. 

While much of Asia and the Near East rapidly expanded tractor use, experts noted, most African farmers remain dependent on manual or animal labour. Past mechanisation efforts often failed because equipment was poorly suited to smallholder systems and unsupported by local supply chains for maintenance, spare parts and repair, they added.

“Mechanisation today cannot look like mechanisation of the past,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol while officially opening the conference. “Shipping in large machines without financing, training, repair services or local adaptation has not delivered lasting results. Africa does not need more equipment sitting idle. It needs systems that work.” 

Bechdol said the challenges facing African agriculture are not the result of farmers’ own failure, but that of systems that have not been designed to fit the realities on the ground. 

“Mechanisation done differently, done together, as a community, is no longer optional. It is essential. At FAO, sustainable mechanisation is viewed as a catalyst for broader transformation. It is not about machines replacing people, but about tools empowering people,” she said.

Attaining this shift, Bechdol said, requires evidence-based solutions, strong local manufacturing and service ecosystems, innovative financing models, enabling policies, and — most importantly — partnerships.

‘A matter of dignity’

While describing the event as a pivotal moment in the continent’s agri-food transformation journey, Moses Vilakati, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (DARBE), framed mechanisation not merely as a technical intervention, but as a question of dignity, equity and Africa’s future.

Farming across much of the continent remains largely arduous, heavily dependent on manual labour and low levels of mechanisation. Vilakati said it is this lack of dignity in African farming that makes it unattractive, especially for smallholder farmers, women and young people. For this reason, it is important that ACSAM serves to advance sustainable mechanisation that is inclusive, demand-driven, climate-smart and embedded within functioning service ecosystems, a shift from fragmented interventions to coordinated, scalable solutions.

Africa, according to Vilakati, already has a strong foundation to build upon. In 2018, the African Union Commission and FAO jointly launched the Framework for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation in Africa (FSAMA), a continental guide promoting mechanisation that is efficient, inclusive and adapted to Africa’s diverse contexts.

The framework reflects mechanisation as a strategic enabler of agrifood systems transformation when it aligns with national priorities, serves smallholders, and is supported by strong institutions and active private sector engagement.

The conference was held at a strategic juncture as Africa enters the next phase of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026-2035 sets out a 10-year pathway to resilient agrifood systems focused on sustainable production, agro-industrialisation, inclusive livelihoods, investment and financing, resilience and strong governance.

Productivity gains, value addition, competitiveness and resilience, the very pillars of CAADP Kampala Declaration, depend on it. The conference also examined the feasibility of establishing a CSAM for Africa to provide an institutional home to coordinate knowledge, innovation and capacity development across the continent.

‘Innovate, transform, sustain’

Throughout the conference, experts from Africa, Asia and Europe demonstrated how mechanisation is boosting productivity and creating jobs along the value chain, from manufacturing and maintenance to service provision, logistics and data management.

They also highlighted how mechanisation interacts with input supply, post-harvest handling, markets, skills development and institutional frameworks. 

The conference’s over 500 in-person participants and the other 1,000 virtual participants agreed when applied sustainably, mechanisation helps farmers produce more without exhausting the land, while opening new opportunities for decent rural employment, particularly for youth and women.