At a Glance
- Africa’s oldest agricultural firms survived colonialism, climate shocks and market liberalization through adaptive farming practices.
- These legacy agribusinesses shaped food security, exports, rural employment and long-term land stewardship across Africa.
- From wine estates to tea farms, history underpins Africa’s modern agricultural value chains.
Africa’s agricultural history stretches back thousands of years, long before modern capitalism or multinational agribusinesses emerged.
The continent was an early center of crop domestication, giving the world sorghum, pearl millet, yams and coffee, commodities that shaped early civilizations and global trade.
These crops laid the foundation for structured farming enterprises that would evolve into some of Africa’s oldest agricultural firms.
From 19th-century land reclamation pioneers in Egypt to centuries-old wine estates in Southern Africa and early commercial tea farms in East Africa, agriculture has long driven wealth creation, labor systems and rural economies across the continent.
Many of these firms survived colonial transitions, climate shocks, market liberalization and technological disruption.
Their longevity often reflects a balance between traditional farming practices, such as irrigation, crop rotation and soil conservation, and modern agribusiness models focused on scale, exports and efficiency.
Here are 10 of Africa’s oldest agricultural firms chronicled by Shore Africa, whose histories mirror the evolution of African enterprise itself.
1. Blaauwklippen Wine Estate
Country: South Africa
Established in 1682
South Africa’s oldest registered company, Blaauwklippen represents centuries of viticulture, land stewardship and export-oriented farming.
2. Mosahamet El Behera
Country: Egypt
Established in 1881
Founded for land reclamation, Behera Company is among Egypt’s oldest agribusinesses, playing a foundational role in modern irrigated agriculture.
3. Tanganda Tea Company
Country: Zimbabwe
Established in 1893
Rooted along the Tanganda River, the company planted its first commercial tea in 1925. Today, it remains a pillar of Zimbabwe’s tea and horticulture value chain.
4. CKL Africa Ltd
Country: Kenya
Established in 1906
Originally Cooper Kenya, CKL has supported livestock productivity for over a century, underpinning animal health systems across East and Central Africa.
5. Kakuzi Limited
Country: Kenya
Established in 1906
One of Kenya’s oldest agribusinesses, Kakuzi helped anchor commercial tea and later diversified into avocados and forestry, shaping East Africa’s export agriculture.
6. Limuru Tea Pioneer Farms
Country: Kenya
Established in 1910
Bought by A.B. McDonell, these farms marked Kenya’s first commercial tea production, catalyzing an industry now central to the economy.
8. Kaap Agri
Country: South Africa
Established in 1912
Originally the KAL Group, Kaap Agri evolved into a critical agricultural supply and services hub in the Western Cape.
9. ZZ2
Country: South Africa
Established over 100 years
A family-owned farming giant, ZZ2 built scale through disciplined crop rotation, logistics integration and climate-resilient horticulture.
10. Cargill Kenya Limited
Country: Kenya
Established in 1948
Cargill’s African footprint began through Ralli Brothers’ cotton trade in Mombasa, marking one of the earliest multinational agricultural operations on the continent.
10. Agri-Expo
Country: South Africa
Established in 1831
Established as the Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society, it remains Africa’s oldest agricultural organization promoting innovation and farmer development.
