The agriculture sector in Gabon is often viewed as a small-scale family farm or a market vendor, but it encompasses much more than that. It is an economy that affects food, employment, transportation, commerce, transformation, finance, technology, and the environment. To develop this sector, a new perspective is needed, one that goes beyond the traditional view of a farmer working in a field. This perspective must be shown to the country's youth, who are often looking for employment opportunities.
A young Gabonese can work in agriculture without necessarily spending their day in a field. Behind every production of maize, soybeans, or peanuts, there are seed producers, agronomists, technicians, agricultural mechanics, logisticians, transporters, transformers, commercial agents, accountants, digital specialists, financiers, and entrepreneurs. The same logic applies to livestock: animal feed, equipment, veterinary services, production, transportation, slaughter, transformation, distribution, and marketing. The field is just the beginning of the story.
The problem in Gabon's agriculture sector is not just about producing more, but also about what is done with what is produced. Producing maize without mastering storage, transformation, and marketing limits the value created. Producing soybeans without developing outlets for this production, particularly for animal feed or transformation, also limits this value. The challenge is to move from a production logic to a value chain logic, where a ton of agricultural product sold raw does not create the same value as a ton that is transformed, packaged, marketed, and integrated into a real local industry.
To develop the agriculture sector, it is essential to focus on women and young people, who are often marginalized. Programs aimed at these groups must go beyond accompaniment and provide access to financing, equipment, markets, training, technologies, and profitable value chains. A young Gabonese woman who produces a few vegetables should not be condemned to remain a small producer. She can become a farm manager, transformer, distributor, agricultural service provider, or head of an agri-food SME.
The issue is not that Gabonese people do not want to work, but rather that the economic environment is not conducive to agriculture. Young people are often discouraged from working in agriculture because they do not know where to sell their products, cannot access financing easily, and face competition from imported products. Before blaming young people for not being interested in agriculture, the economic environment that is proposed to them must be examined.
To attract a new generation to agriculture, economic models that work must be built. The sector must be made attractive by allowing people to make a living. This requires developing a more productive agriculture while integrating agroecology, sustainable soil management, agroforestry, reduction of losses, valorization of agricultural waste, agricultural technologies, and better use of data. The green economy must not be opposed to agricultural profitability, but rather become a competitive advantage.
To achieve this, a comprehensive approach is needed. Agriculture must not be considered a sectoral policy in isolation, but rather as a cross-cutting policy that concerns employment, industry, commerce, training, financing, transportation, environment, and territorial planning. The government must identify the value chains on which Gabon wants to build economic advantages and invest in production and storage infrastructure, facilitate access to financing, develop local transformation, and create mechanisms for access to markets.
Key points
- The agriculture sector in Gabon needs a new perspective to unlock its full potential and create jobs and wealth for the country's youth and women.
- The sector must be made attractive by allowing people to make a living and providing access to financing, equipment, and markets.
- A comprehensive approach is needed to develop the agriculture sector, including investment in infrastructure, facilitation of access to financing, and development of local transformation.
