Publications
The Africa Roundtable N°6
Action Recommendations
The Africa Roundtable in Berlin 2024 | Growing Africa’s Future: Advancing Food Sovereignty through Agricultural Innovation
The Action Recommendations following the conference
Publications: The Africa Roundtable N°6
May 28, 2024
Berlin
The sixth edition of The Africa Roundtable took place in Berlin on 7 May. The conference brought together representatives from multilateral institutions, the private sector, civil society, think tanks, entrepreneurs and investors to discuss the future of Africa’s agricultural sector. Despite the sector’s incredible potential, challenges such as low productivity, infrastructure gaps, digitization, and climate change must be addressed. The two research papers on food sovereignty and food systems and new approaches to technological innovation, which were presented at the conference, provided an evidence-based foundation for the debate.
While the last roundtable in Berlin offered new perspectives on the education and training of Africa’s youth, the sixth edition of the conference focused on strategies to leverage the continent’s potential as a global agricultural powerhouse.
Action Recommendations
Cross-Sectoral Approach
Transforming Africa's agricultural sector requires a systematic, cross-sectoral approach that includes coherent policies, targeted investments, and good governance, while addressing conflicting goals and the unique challenges faced by each African country.
Funding in Critical Areas
Unlocking Africa's agricultural potential necessitates increased funding in critical areas such as infrastructure, fertilizer production and soil health, storage facilities, and digital technologies, with a focus on making these investments accessible and beneficial to smallholder farmers.
Strong Partnerships and Collaboration
Fostering strong partnerships and collaboration among stakeholders from politics, the private sector, civil society, and research is vital for implementing successful strategies and initiatives that advance food sovereignty and agricultural progress in Africa. Collaboration and partnership with Europe can play a crucial role in supporting this transformation through knowledge sharing, capacity building, and joint initiatives.
Digital Innovation
Leveraging digital technologies and innovations, such as index-based agriculture insurance, smart irrigation, inclusive digital financing, and other solutions like utilizing space data, can help transform the productivity and profitability of Africa's agri-food system, but requires investments in digital infrastructure, education, and regulatory support.
Local Production and Trade
Strengthening local food production and intra-African trade is essential for achieving food sovereignty and resilience. This requires addressing issues such as land tenure, climate change adaptation, infrastructure, and the development of value-added processing and marketing channels.
Empowerment
Empowering women and youth in agriculture is crucial for driving progress and innovation. This involves improving access to land, finance, education, and training, and creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurship and agribusiness development.
Policies and Governance
Establishing conducive policy frameworks and governance structures is crucial for creating an enabling environment that encourages investment, innovation, and growth in the agricultural sector, while ensuring that the benefits are equitably distributed among all stakeholders.
Contact Persons
Stephanie Igunbor, s.igunbor@globalperspectives.org
Supported by
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
BDI Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie
BMZ Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung
Publications
Our collaborative publications aim to stimulate questioning and discussion. They are the result of a deep engagement with the focus topics of our work and enable a fact-based dialogue.
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