The centrality of the agricultural sector to achieving the goals of overall sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is not in question. While other regions of the world have made dramatic gains in agricultural outputs due to technology intensification, SSA agricultural systems is still largely dominated by subsistence, low-technology and low-output production units. Consequently, the region faces persistent problems of starvation, poor nutrition and famine.

ADPED sees agricultural underdevelopment as a major threat to overall economic development of the region. Hence, the organization collaborates with local level farmer organizations, state, national, and the international agricultural development communities and institutions to empower resource-poor farmers to gain access to output-improving technologies, pro-poor agricultural policies and markets. ADPED provides food relief services to communities suffering from acute food-deficit problems.