A decade of intense attention to farmers and food production has generated "the most successful development effort" in African history, with countries that made the biggest investments now experiencing significant jumps in both farm productivity and overall economic performance, a report from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa finds.

The report, Progress Towards an Agriculture Transformation of Sub-Saharan Africa (298 pages, PDF), provides an in-depth review of the last decade in African agriculture, finding, among other things, that the continent has experienced sustained agricultural productivity growth since 2005, accompanied by declining poverty rates in Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso. The report further notes that improved agricultural productivity has had the biggest impact in countries that moved quickly to embrace the African Union’s Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme, which was established in 2003. A key component of CAADP was its call for governments to allocate 10 percent of their national budgets to agriculture and to aim for 6 percent annual growth in the sector.

According to the report, even those countries that adopted the CAADP goals early but didn't hit the 10 percent target still saw agricultural productivity on existing farmlands rise by between 5.9 percent and 6.7 percent annually, which in turn spurred a 4.3 percent annual average increase in overall GDP. In contrast, countries that adopted CAADP later achieved only 3 percent to 5.7 percent increases in productivity and a 2.4 percent to 3.5 percent boost in GDP.

Experts noted, however, that agricultural development across the continent continues to be uneven. Indeed, the report argues that while public investment in agriculture in Africa has increased — rising on average per country from $186.4 million between 1995 and 2003 to $219.6 million between 2008 and 2014 — it should be four times what it is currently. But obtaining financing for agricultural production improvements remains a major challenge for rural Africans, with only about 6 percent of rural householders in sub-Saharan Africa able to borrow from a formal financial institution.

"The last ten years have made a strong case for agriculture as the surest path to producing sustainable economic growth that is felt in all sectors of society — and particularly among poor Africans," said AGRA president Agnes Kalibata. "The track record is far from perfect," she added. "Many governments face significant budget constraints and far too many farming families continue to lack basic inputs, like improved seeds or fertilizers. But the evidence is clear. When we invest in our farmers and in the all the things they need to succeed, good things happen across the economy."