Afrička proizvodnja zrna tijekom posljednjih godina ima sljedeće značajke: a. Stopa samodostatnosti je degradirajuća postupno, a oskudica zrna postaje sve intenzivnija. Iako su mnoge zemlje uložile velike napore u razvoju proizvodnje žita od neovisnosti, općenito govoreći, Povećanje zrna nije uspjelo održati porast potražnje. Stopa samodostatnosti zrna je pala od 97% ranih 1960 -ih do 70% srednjih 1980 -ih. Uvoz zrna povećao se za šest puta. b. Proizvodnja žitarica zauzima istaknuto mjesto u industriji poljoprivrede i sadnje. Uglavnom, for the countries with a lower economic level, its grain production takes a more prominent position. c. Low and unstable production level. Most part of grain production is done by small farmers and their technology is backward. d. The crops have a large variety and coarse food grain takes a large proportion (about 70% or above of total grain throughput). Wheat and paddy take a smaller proportion. Teff, yam, taro, cattail millet, ragi millet, edible banana are all grown in Africa; farmers use corn and cassava as staple food. Corn has a long plantation history and a large plantation area. It is mostly concentrated in southern Africa. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi are main producing countries. High lands in east Africa, Egypt and Morocco in north Africa and Ghana, Guinea, Benin in west Africa also have a large plantation area. Sorghum and millets are traditional food crops. The middle streams of Niger River and the Nile are two major sorghum producing areas. Millets are widely spread. Nigeria, Chad, Niger River are major producing countries. Wheat and barley are mainly spread in coastal countries of Mediterranean and south Africa. Paddy is concentrated in few countries like Egypt and Madagascar. In recent years, the coast of Guinea Gulf, the middle stream of Niger River, eastern area of Congo Basin have seen plenty plantation of paddy. Cassava is one of the traditional food crops; it is the staple food of tropical African villagers; it is almost spread across the whole continent, especially between N16° and S16° tropical area.