At the Africa Food Systems (AFS) Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, the clarion call for an urgent overhaul of the continent’s food systems resonated across a gathering of over 5,000 delegates. The event, under the aegis of the theme “Innovate, Accelerate, and Elevate,” highlighted the imperative for bold innovation, substantial investment, and unwavering political commitment to secure the future of Africa’s agriculture and food security.
Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente, in his keynote address, underscored the critical necessity for robust collaboration between governments, the private sector, and an array of stakeholders. He articulated a vision where digital technologies and climate-resilient practices are harnessed to create inclusive food systems, ensuring that safe and nutritious food is accessible to every African.
“The path to delivering food systems transformation in Africa lies in our ability to innovate, accelerate, and scale,” Ngirente declared, signalling a sense of urgency that permeated the discussions. He urged African governments to transcend rhetoric and undertake swift, coordinated actions to address the continent’s food security challenges.
The forum was not without its moments of candid introspection. Hailemariam Desalegn, the esteemed board chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the AFS Forum, voiced his concerns over the persistent deficit of political will and investment in Africa’s food systems. Desalegn, a statesman of considerable repute, remarked with palpable frustration, “Africa’s food systems have not received the political commitment and investments they need. We must ensure access to healthy, nutritious food for all and tap into the potential of African youth to develop and sustain innovation ecosystems in food systems.”
Desalegn’s exhortation was clear: the continent can ill afford to relegate its food systems to the periphery of its development agenda. The need for concerted action, he emphasised, is no longer a choice but a necessity.
Adding to the discourse, Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ildephonse Musafiri, articulated a poignant analysis of the continent’s current trajectory. Musafiri, whose insights into the agricultural domain are widely respected, pointed to the sporadic yet insufficient progress in transforming Africa’s food systems. He advocated for food systems that are not merely productive and efficient but also sustainable and resilient, as the antidote to Africa’s multifaceted challenges in production, nutrition, and trade.
However, the enormity of the challenges confronting Africa’s food systems was laid bare by the forum’s delegates. The discussions revealed a grim litany of persistent impediments: inadequate policy frameworks, poor coordination, and delivery mechanisms, the relentless impacts of climate change, infrastructural deficits, fragmented markets, food loss and waste, and a pervasive scarcity of access to innovation, technologies, and investment.
As the forum reached its crescendo, the urgency of accelerating efforts to transform African food systems became incontrovertible. With the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) 2030 deadline looming ominously and the Malabo Declaration’s 2025 targets approaching, the delegates were left in no doubt that time is of the essence.
The forum concluded on a note of cautious optimism, with a collective resolve to implement innovative policies, leverage digital technologies, and mobilise scaled investments. Such efforts, it was agreed, are pivotal to achieving food and nutrition security, whilst simultaneously creating employment opportunities for Africa’s burgeoning youth and women populations.
In essence, the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali did more than merely echo familiar refrains. It served as a critical platform for holding stakeholders to account, with an expectation that the commitments made would translate into concrete actions. The transformation of Africa’s food systems is no longer a distant ideal; it is an urgent imperative that demands immediate and sustained attention.
