Integral Agricultural Transformation in Africa: A Practitioner's View

Karan Chopra
Executive Vice President and Co-Founder, Opportunity@Work
Co-Founder, GADCO (Global Agri-Development Company)

Socio-economic development in many developing countries in Africa entails a transformation of their large agriculture sectors. While academic research tends to take a piecemeal approach to this multifaceted issue, private sector actors need an integrated, effective, and scalable strategy. 

Ten years ago, GADCO (Global Agri-Development Company) – an integrated agri-business startup – raised millions of dollars in international private equity with the goal of transforming African agriculture, starting in Ghana. By its fifth anniversary, GADCO had become the largest rice farm in Ghana. Along the way, GADCO – which was recently acquired by a larger African agri-business company – linked nearly 1,000 smallholder farmers to its supply chain and significantly raised their incomes by reshaping their farm operations and human capital. 

Karan Chopra, a GADCO co-founder, will discuss GADCO’s pioneering work in Ghana and share his take on the intersections of agriculture in Africa with key topics of ongoing academic research, including: food security, rural development, sustainable development, climate change, political economy, technology transfer, technology adoption, urban food markets, mobile finance, land right management, and agricultural human capital formation.