Productive use of electricity in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

Abstract

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries often prioritize electrification as an important component of their infrastructure development, anticipating that electricity access will stimulate local economies. Agriculture, a significant contributor to employment and Gross Domestic Product in many of these countries, stands out as a crucial sector that could benefit from the expansion of electricity infrastructure. Thus, integrating electricity into agricultural practices presents a promising pathway for regional development. This review systematically analyzes the academic literature on the productive use of electricity in SSA’s agricultural sector, focusing on dominant trends, opportunities, and challenges at the electricity-agriculture nexus. Primary production activities, particularly irrigation, emerged as the most extensively studied application of electricity in the agricultural sector, and there was a limited number of studies focused on countries in Central Africa. Solar energy was the most assessed source of electricity, likely due to the abundance of solar resources in Africa. Less than half of the studies considered the economic or environmental impact of their proposed productive use activity, focusing more on the technical and operational feasibility of these initiatives. Also, we found that the productive use of electricity in agriculture is hindered by constraints such as a lack of technical expertise, unreliable power supply, limited market access, and inadequate financial services, and we quantitatively assessed the prevalence of each constraint in the selected studies. The review concludes by highlighting opportunities for future research and proposing strategic policy recommendations aimed at fostering the adoption of electrical technologies in agriculture across SSA, thereby enhancing the sector’s efficiency and productivity.