The prospect of using biochar to improve cereals farming is not promising in both NWE and SSA contexts. Generally, the limited agronomic benefits suggested by current field trial results together with relatively high biochar cost estimates mean that biochar is a poor investment option for cereal farmers. Although there are a number of circumstances in SSA settings where biochar may indeed provide an overall economic benefit, uncertainty in longevity and performance undermine these possibilities. From our CBA, we identify three main potential developments that may overturn this pessimistic outlook: (i) With significant advancements to the agronomic understanding of biochar, more beneficial and definitive usages may be established to give a greater economic value than found in this study. (ii) The development and successful use of biochar produced from waste, non-woody feedstocks may reduce biochar costs to low enough levels for farmers to receive an overall benefit from the investment. (iii) Introduction of robust and effective carbon markets that include biochar deployment as a respected method of carbon abatement may provide the additional revenue necessary for biochar to become a valuable agricultural technology.