From Surviving to Thriving: Africa’s Path to Agricultural Prosperity

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From Surviving to Thriving: Africa’s Path to Agricultural Prosperity

At the African Food Systems Forum in Dakar, leaders called for nothing short of a transformation of the continent’s agriculture. Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye stressed Africa’s vast potential:

“Our continent has all the potential needed to achieve food self-sufficiency. Better yet: with its assets, Africa could contribute to feeding the world.”

With 65% of the world’s arable land and a young, dynamic workforce, Africa could become a breadbasket for itself and beyond. But to get there, leaders emphasized urgent change.

“This situation cannot continue,” warned Hailemariam Dessalegn, former Ethiopian PM and chair of AGRA’s board. Despite abundant resources, Africa imports $70 billion in food annually, loses 30–40% of harvests post-production, and produces only 60–70% of its food needs.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame added that Africa undermines itself by exporting raw agricultural materials, only to reimport them at high prices once processed abroad.

Steps outlined at the Forum included:

Training youth to meet agricultural needs,

Modernizing production methods,

Developing climate-resilient seeds,

Mastering local processing,

Embracing digitalization.

Running until September 5 under the theme “Africa’s Youth Leading Collaboration, Innovation, and Implementation of Agri-Food Systems Transformation,” the forum underscores that breaking outdated perceptions of agriculture as a “survival sector” is essential.

The vision: an Africa that feeds itself—and the world.

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