Europeans have been able to successfully modernize their family agriculture and drastically reduce the number of agricultural workers. Will sub-Saharan Africa experience the same kind of transformation? Current situations and the ways in which rural African societies are changing vary greatly, but overall it can be said that their ability to adapt to difficult situations, although considerable, has its limits, while the risks of over-exploiting natural resources, increasing poverty and inequality, and the increase of out-of-control migration are increasing. The future of agriculture in Africa depends on difficult transitions which will have to be dealt with by consistent public policies that are the result of compromises negotiated with agricultural leaders and implemented by mobilizing the necessary means.