An hour away from the medina of Marrakech and its throngs of tourists, plains of semi-desert stretch across the horizon. Here, at the Benguerir mine, huge diggers bore into the ochre earth to reach the phosphate rock beneath, a resource that could help shape Africa’s future.

OCP, a state-owned Moroccan company, digs 44mn tonnes of phosphate rock out of Benguerir and three other mines each year for processing into fertiliser. By 2027, that will reach 70mn tonnes. While most of its output is currently shipped outside the continent, it is on Africa that the company is pinning its future.

The company is pouring cash into developing the continent’s agrifood sector, investment that it hopes will result in a big increase in demand for fertiliser. It is a massive gamble given that Africa had to import $43bn of food in 2019, according to World Bank estimates. That figure is set to rise to $110bn by 2025, it predicts.