Over the past three years, payment strategies for emerging markets have been revolutionized by the advent of a simple cell-phone-based payment service in Kenya called M-PESA (“M” for “mobile” and “pesa” for “money”).

Agriculture in Ethiopia is almost entirely rainfed and highly prone to droughts and floods. Given that 85 percent of the population depends on smallholder agriculture, these weather shocks severely affect many Ethiopians.

The author describes a successful case study as follows: "Dairy production in Kenya has grown at 2.8 percent per year over the past two decades, resulting in per capita production levels double those found anywhere else on the continent.

During the first half of the 20th century, African farmers transformed maize from a minor imported foodcrop into the continent's principal staple food.

The authors describe the case study as follows: "Kenyan horticultural exports have grown at over 6 percent per year for the past 30 years.