Across Africa’s food and feed processing sectors, sustainability is moving to the centre of operational decision-making. This shift is being driven by something far more immediate than environmental commitments alone: operational efficiency, profitability, resilience and long-term competitiveness.
For processors across the continent, energy costs remain volatile and often high. Water availability is emerging as a significant operational concern across regions. Post-harvest losses continue to place pressure on profitability and food security. At the same time, export markets and international buyers are introducing more stringent requirements around traceability, carbon footprint and resource use.
Against this backdrop, sustainability is increasingly a core business consideration.
At Bühler, the sustainability strategy is built around what the company calls the ‘50/50/50’ commitment: having solutions ready that can reduce energy consumption, waste and water use by 50% across customer value chains. Many of these technologies already exist today. As part of 2025 lifecycle assessment work across 15 industrial value chains in food, feed and advanced materials, Bühler found that reductions of at least 50% were achievable in one or more key environmental dimensions in 11 of those value chains. Across all assessed value chains, more than 35% savings were achievable in at least one category.
Sustainability and operational improvements go hand in hand
These findings demonstrate that sustainability improvements are often directly linked to operational improvements. Lower energy consumption means lower operating expenditure. Better yield means less raw material loss. Reduced waste frequently translates into improved process efficiency and higher profitability.
In practice, the most accessible opportunities for African processors lie in fundamental operational areas: drying efficiency, grain storage, yield optimisation, energy monitoring, process control and waste reduction. Improved storage and drying infrastructure can significantly reduce post-harvest food losses, an issue with both economic and food security implications across the continent.
Yield improvement is important because it creates both economic and environmental benefits. Every ton of raw material lost during processing represents wasted land, water, energy, fertiliser, logistics and labour upstream in the value chain. Improving process efficiency helps reduce environmental impact while strengthening commercial performance.
Sustainability adoption in Africa varies. Conditions vary significantly between countries, sectors and processors. Access to reliable and affordable energy remains a challenge in numerous markets. Financing constraints can make capital-intensive upgrades difficult to prioritise. Water stress continues to affect both agricultural production and industrial operations in several regions.
Reliable baseline data is critical
One of the less discussed challenges is measurement. Without reliable baseline data on energy consumption, water use, waste generation or yield loss, it becomes difficult for processors to identify where improvements are possible or to build a credible investment case for change.
Digitalisation and data-driven optimisation are therefore becoming increasingly important. Measurement is the foundation of sustainability improvement. Even relatively modest monitoring systems can provide processors with valuable operational visibility. Once businesses understand where inefficiencies exist, targeted interventions become far easier to justify and implement.
Beyond monitoring, digital process optimisation can improve thermal and mechanical efficiency, helping processors simultaneously reduce energy use and minimise yield loss. Processors also require structured sustainability data to satisfy customers, financiers, investors and regulators. Sustainability in food processing is not only about technology; operator knowledge and process understanding remain essential. In most cases, processors can achieve meaningful improvements without major capital expenditure simply by optimising existing assets and improving operational practices.
Training and knowledge transfer remain central
Training and knowledge transfer remain central to Bühler’s approach globally. Through its network of research and training centres, Bühler works closely with processors to identify resource losses, optimise process parameters and improve operational performance.
Partnerships are equally important. No single company can solve sustainability challenges across an entire value chain. In the African context, collaboration between processors, technology providers, development finance institutions, governments and industry bodies will be essential to scaling progress.
Momentum is already building. Across African markets, there is growing interest in solutions that improve both operational resilience and environmental performance, accelerated in some cases by export market requirements, and in others, by the commercial realities of energy pricing, raw material costs and supply chain risk.
Bühler’s own sustainability journey reflects this philosophy. The company has reduced Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 30% compared to its 2019 baseline, and reduced energy consumption across operations by 19% while continuing to invest in innovation, research, training and partnerships focused on reducing environmental impact across food and materials value chains.
The greatest impact will not come from isolated pilot projects or sustainability reporting frameworks alone; it will come from widespread adoption of practical, scalable solutions that improve both business performance and environmental outcomes. For Africa’s food systems, this opportunity is significant. A more efficient processing sector is better positioned to improve sustainability performance, support food security, economic growth and long-term resilience for a rapidly growing population.
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