http://youtu.be/vo8ndvJOzLs

Nearly two thirds of Africa’s population derive its livelihood from agriculture or related activities. But the industry has been stuck in a vicious cycle of low productivity due to underutilized potential farmland that has kept a larger part of the continent’s youthful generation in poverty, strife or hunger.

The future could be bright for Africa’s agriculture. But to realize its full potential the continent’s governments need to rethink their approach to encouraging investment mostly in infrastructure, research and other support amenities.

“The key producing regions, such as Ivory Coast or Ghana for instance, you have a large sway of cocoa producers that are removed from any basic infrastructural arrangements in the country, whether its roads, schools or hospitals. These are the major concerns that have to be addressed and they have to addressed not only by government but also by the private sector,” Jean-Marc Anga, executive director at International Cocoa Organization, told Bloomberg TV Africa.

According to the World Bank’s 2013 report on African agriculture, the continent is home to almost half of the world’s uncultivated land that is suited for growing food crops and its harvests habitually yield far less than they could, particularly for key crops such as maize. Much of the food grown in Africa goes to waste—by some estimates, as much as half of the produce in some countries never makes it to market.