Keep pulling the thread on Joe Studwell.
Since 2000, agricultural growth in Africa has averaged over 4% per year, the highest rate in the world.
Africa's agricultural output by value is growing at over 4% per year, outpacing its population growth rate of less than 3% per year.
According to United Nations projections, by the end of the century, Africa's population will reach 4 billion, Asia's population will be 4 billion, and the rest of the world's population will be 2 billion.
An estimated 50% of all capital expenditure in Africa's manufacturing sector is currently directed towards agricultural processing.
Current factory labor wages in China are approximately $600 per month, while wages in various African countries range from one-tenth to one-half of that amount.
Chinese firms invested over $12 billion in manufacturing in Africa last year, according to data from the Financial Times' FTI database.
Chinese banks have lent over $150 billion to African countries.
At a political level, China has significantly scaled back its Belt and Road Initiative without a formal announcement.
Joe Studwell believes the primary uncertainty for Africa's future is whether its governments will improve their capabilities in response to a more positive economic environment driven by population growth.
North African countries are increasingly identifying themselves as part of Africa due to growing economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa.
Africa's population density in 1960 was equivalent to Europe's population density in the year 1500.
Joe Studwell asserts that mineral-based economies do not lead to broad-based economic development because they employ few people and operate as enclaves separate from the wider economy.