Africa is sowing the seeds for the transformation of agricultural and food systems
For the African Union (AU), 2025 began with a significant milestone. From the 9th–11th January, delegations from the AU’s 55 member states convened in Kampala/Uganda to launch a new continental agenda for the transformation of African agricultural and food systems. The Kampala Agenda consists of an ambitious political declaration (Kampala Declaration) and a corresponding Strategy and Action Plan to guide the continent over the next decade (2026–2035).
This agenda’s adoption followed an extensive consultation process across the continent, involving civil society organisations, research institutions and development partners. The presence of numerous African heads of state at the Kampala Summit underscores that the modernisation and sustainable transformation of Africa’s agricultural sector remain high on the continent's political agenda.
The Kampala Agenda builds on the Malabo Agenda, adopted in 2014 and valid until the end of 2025. Its implementation will continue under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the AU’s strategic framework for agricultural transformation, established in 2003. As an African Union flagship programme, CAADP remains a central tool in achieving the ambitious goals of Agenda 2063, the continent’s long-term development vision.
A paradigm shift
In many ways, the Kampala Agenda represents a qualitative leap. It moves beyond a narrow focus on agricultural-led economic growth and productivity increases, adopting a holistic and systemic approach to tackling the complex challenges within agricultural and food systems.
Through this paradigm shift, the African Union seeks to strategically and conceptually integrate two key processes: the established CAADP framework and the regional follow-up processes to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), based on the African Common Position on Food Systems.
Compared to the 2014 Malabo Declaration, the Kampala Agenda elevates and emphasises key topics. These include new, specific goals for areas such as “healthy diets and nutrition” or the topic of “gender and inclusivity”. Overall, the agenda places greater emphasis on ecological and social sustainability as well as on the role of effective governance in driving the transformation process.
The success of the Kampala decade, beginning in January 2026, depends on its implementation by AU member states. The CAADP process must take effect at national level. Lessons from the Malabo decade highlight that success is most likely when member states develop National Agricultural Investment Plans (NAIP) through participatory processes, aligning them with continental goals and integrating them into national development and budgetary frameworks. Strong political leadership and inter-ministerial coordination are essential. Given the new food systems focus, aligning national Kampala implementation plans with the “National Pathways” from the UNFSS process will also be crucial.
Support through German development cooperation
German development cooperation is in a good position to support African partner countries both in domesticating and implementing the Kampala Agenda. Strategically, there is considerable alignment between the new CAADP Kampala Strategy and key strategies of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), such as the BMZ Core Area Strategy “A World Without Hunger – Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems” and the BMZ Africa Strategy. A BMZ delegation attended the Kampala Summit, reaffirming Germany’s commitment to supporting the agenda.
On the implementation side, the Federally owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is active in many African partner countries through its operational structures. Bilateral projects in the agricultural and food sectors, along with country-specific measures funded by the Special Initiative “Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems”, can make an important contribution to supporting AU member states in effectively implementing the Kampala Agenda.
2025 – a year of transition
The year 2025 serves as a transition period between the Malabo and Kampala decades. The AU Commission, in collaboration with the AU Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), has begun developing support modalities and tools to aid the domestication of the new agenda and the continued implementation of CAADP at the level of regional economic communities and member states. Globally, efforts are underway to position the Kampala Agenda as a priority within South Africa’s G20 presidency and to integrate it into the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+4) in July.
With the adoption of the Kampala Agenda, the AU has sown the seeds. Over the next decade, the challenge will be to cultivate impacts and harvest tangible results, and hence to enhance food security and advance sustainable agricultural transformation across the continent.
Authors:
Tarquin Mészáros, Component Manager, Sector Project Agriculture, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Bonn, Germany.
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Pierre Pascal Cerdan Castagnola, Junior Advisor, Sector Project Agriculture, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Bonn, Germany.
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