The Africa Food Systems Forum 2026, taking place in Kigali from 31 August to 4 September 2026, officially opened under the theme “Investing in Agri-Food Systems: Nourishing Nations, Growing Jobs, Building Resilience,” with a clear call for Africa to move from ambition to action.
Welcoming leaders and delegates from across the continent and beyond, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Board Chair of AGRA, the AFS Partners Group, TradeMark Africa and CGIAR, reflected on two decades of progress while calling for the next decade to become a “decade of capable delivery.”
He acknowledged gains in farmer incomes, productivity and agricultural innovation, but stressed that “progress is not the same as prosperity,” urging leaders to move from knowledge to delivery, pilots to scale, and commitments to measurable results.
Drawing on the African proverb, “Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it,” H.E. Hailemariam underscored that no single country or institution can transform Africa’s food systems alone. “What no single nation can embrace alone, Africa can embrace together,” he said.
Bringing together more than 5,000 participants, the Forum seeks to turn Africa’s food-systems ambitions into investments, partnerships and measurable results—creating jobs, strengthening resilience and improving livelihoods.
