Nigeria leads Africa in total arable land with 36,872,000 hectares, more than twice that of Niger, the second-ranking country.
Niger ranks second with 17,700,000 hectares.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ranks third with 13,680,000 hectares, revealing the role of Central Africa in agricultural land availability.
Other notable countries include Chad (5.3M hectares), Zambia (3.8M hectares), and Guinea (3.1M hectares).
The countries at the bottom of the top ten list, such as Congo (550,000 hectares), Liberia (500,000 hectares), and Mauritania (450,000 hectares), have relatively limited arable land compared to leading nations.
East Africa: Ethiopia leads with 36.2 million agricultural workers (27.3% of its 132.5 million population). Agriculture is vital to its economy. Tanzania follows with 19.2 million workers (approximately 28.8% of 66.6 million). Uganda has 23.4% of its 50 million population in agriculture, and Kenya employs 7.6 million workers (approximately 13.7% of 55.3 million), despite land degradation affecting 80% of its land.
West Africa: Nigeria has 26.8 million agricultural workers, but with a population of 232 million, it heavily depends on food imports as only 11.5% of its population work in the agriculture section. Ghana employs 5.5 million agricultural workers (16% of 34.4 million) and has strong potential for agricultural export growth, especially cocoa.
Central Africa: DR Congo has 18.6 million agricultural workers out of a population of 109.2 million.
Southern Africa: Mozambique has 9.9 million agricultural workers 29% of 34.6 million, while Madagascar employs 10.5 million (33% of 31.9 million). Agriculture is key to Madagascar’s economy but hindered by land issues, with women producing 80% of crops.
North Africa: Egypt has 5.7 million agricultural workers (5% of 116.5 million), and relies on irrigation due to limited arable land and high food imports.
