Claver Gatete, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the African Food Systems Forum 2025.
Photo: © ECA
ASFS 2025: Empowering Africa’s Youth to Cultivate Change
The Africa Food Systems Forum 2025 (AFSF) took place in Dakar/Senegal from August 31st to September 5th, under the theme Empowering Africa’s Youth to Cultivate Change: Innovating, Collaborating, and Transforming Agrifood Systems. The annual event convened African leaders, development partners, academics, farmer organisations and the private sector to highlight actions and innovations driving food systems transformation in Africa, with a strong focus on empowering youth and women.
Africa’s paradox: abundant resources, persistent hunger
Africa’s food security challenge was a central theme at the Forum. Speakers highlighted the continent’s vast natural resources – 60 per cent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, abundant water, and a young population – contrasted with high food imports and climate vulnerability.
“This is the paradox of Africa: a continent with extraordinary potential but still marked by persistent hunger and heavy dependence on external markets,” Claver Gatete, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said in his statement at the Forum.
Youth empowerment driving agrifood transformation
Africa’s large rural youth population represents a powerful force for innovation and transformation of the agrifood sector and for entrepreneurship, and rural economic growth. Unlocking this potential requires investments in skills, access to finance and opportunities for dignified employment in agriculture.
"Rather than handouts, rural youth need targeted investment that helps them build their own future. The way forward for transforming food systems is to focus on the areas where we can have the greatest impact – investing in rural communities, especially women and young people, to promote equitable growth, food security and stability,” said Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the event.
Through its portfolio of loans and grants, IFAD expects to reach over eleven million young people in more than 90 countries, many of them in Africa. In Senegal, for instance, the Agri-Jeunes Project has already encouraged 10,000 young men and women to return to rural areas, where they are now earning two to seven times the national minimum wage.
Liberia launches USD 900 million agricultural investment programme
At the Forum, Liberia announced the Legacy Investment Program, a USD 900 million initiative designed to strengthen the country’s food systems. The programme focuses on rice, maize, coffee, cassava and oil palm, with ambitious production goals aimed at reducing import dependence, increasing exports and creating rural employment opportunities.
“The Legacy Investment Program focuses on increasing productivity by providing the right inputs, infrastructure, technology and services across agricultural value chains,” said Dr J. Alexander Nuetah, Liberia’s Agriculture Minister, who described the initiative as a cornerstone of the country’s agricultural transformation agenda.
Key targets include:
- 50,000 hectares of rice for national self-sufficiency
- 20,000 hectares of maize for food and livestock feed
- 15,000 hectares of coffee to revive exports
- 20,000 hectares of cassava for food security and agro-processing
- 18,000 hectares of oil palm to boost edible oil supply and foreign exchange earnings
Launch of key reports: Global & Africa food systems
Two important reports were launched during AFSF 2025:
- The 2025 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR), presented by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and AGRA. The report reviews 50 years of food systems transformation and outlines priorities for the next decade, anchored in the Kampala Declaration 2025 and the renewed CAADP agenda. It emphasises equitable livelihoods for youth, women and vulnerable groups.
- The 2025 Africa Food Systems Report (AFSR), formerly the Africa Agriculture Status Report, entitled Drivers of Change and Innovation in Africa’s Food Systems. The report highlights how African farmers, entrepreneurs, scientists and policy-makers are pioneering climate-smart farming, digital credit platforms, resilient infrastructure and regional trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Both reports underscore Africa’s capacity to lead a food systems transformation rooted in equity, sustainability and resilience.
50 years of IFPRI
The Forum also celebrated the 50th anniversary of IFPRI, highlighting its global and African contributions to food systems research and policy.
For five decades, IFPRI has helped shape how food security, agricultural trade, governance and climate resilience are analysed and addressed. Its work has informed governments, international organisations, and local institutions, with Africa at the centre of many initiatives. Partnerships, country strategies and regional programmes have supported responses to climate shocks, urbanisation, conflict and malnutrition.
Ines Lechner, Rural 21
More information:
Previous article
