In Africa, will AI take jobs or help keep food on the table?

How AI is helping and hurting, and how you can get ahead.

A three part series on FFA News

Across Africa, people are asking a hard question. Will artificial intelligence take jobs or help keep food on the table?

Hunger is still high. One in five Africans face food shortages. In 2022, the UN estimated 280 million people went hungry. By 2024, the figure rose to 307 million. In Uganda, families spend over half of their income on food, and any lost wage cuts straight into meals.

AI is spreading into daily life. In Kenya, banks are using chatbots to replace human tellers for basic customer support. Governments in Nigeria and South Africa have opened new data centers to handle digital services. At the Unstoppable Africa summit in New York, leaders spoke of creating AI “factories” so Africa can build, not just buy, new technology.

For workers, the fear is clear. An October 2025 study found that women in Africa’s outsourcing sector face the highest risk of losing jobs to automation. Call centers in Nairobi, once a source of steady income, are now testing automated voice assistants. Data entry roles in Kigali and Accra are also shrinking as firms turn to AI.

Trade is also shifting. In October 2025, the COMESA trade bloc launched a Digital Retail Payments Platform. It allows traders in countries like Zambia and Uganda to pay in their own currencies instead of converting into dollars. A maize trader moving grain from Lusaka to Kampala now saves money on conversion fees. Lower costs like this can reduce prices in local markets.

AI also carries hope. In Ethiopia, smallholder farmers are testing the CRAFT tool, which predicts crop yields and gives early warnings about drought and disease. In Ghana, cocoa farmers are using the Farmonaut platform to check real‑time market prices and receive digital advisory services before they sell. In Senegal, health workers are linked to the 3S One Health platform, part of the AI4PEP initiative, which uses AI-powered alerts and dashboards to track the spread of disease in rural areas. These uses can cut waste, protect harvests, and speed up responses.

But without training, many workers may lose jobs while only a few gain. A young woman working in a Nairobi call center may watch her role disappear, while an engineer trained to manage the AI system sees his pay rise.

The future depends on choices made today. If governments, schools, and firms invest in skills, AI can help Africa grow food and create work. If not, hunger and unemployment may deepen together.

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