When Africa's leaders gather to discuss food systems, conversations often focus on immediate challenges: Droughts, floods, rising food prices, pests and diseases outbreaks, conflicts and disruptions to supply chains. These issues demand urgent attention. Yet alongside managing today's challenges, Africa must devote equal energy to a more fundamental question: What kind of agrifood system does the continent want by 2046?
The answer will not emerge by chance. It must be shaped through deliberate choices and investments made today. As Africa advances the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy and Action Plan 2026-2035, there is a unique opportunity to build agrifood systems that are more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.
Over the next two decades, Africa's population will continue to grow rapidly, urban centres will expand, consumer preferences will evolve, and technological innovation will transform the way food is produced, processed, marketed and consumed. The challenge is not merely producing more food. It is ensuring that food systems deliver better nutrition, create decent livelihoods, protect natural resources and contribute to broad-based economic growth.
Africa enters this future with considerable strengths. The continent possesses vast agricultural resources, a youthful and entrepreneurial population, expanding markets and growing technological capabilities. These assets provide a strong foundation for transforming agrifood systems into engines of prosperity and resilience.
Achieving this vision requires a systems approach. Agriculture cannot be viewed in isolation. Food security, nutrition, trade, health, environmental sustainability, education and employment are intricately interconnected. Transformation will depend on building stronger linkages among farmers, researchers, processors, traders, financial institutions, policymakers and consumers.
One of the greatest opportunities lies in adding value closer to where food is produced. Investments in agro-processing, storage facilities, transport corridors, digital infrastructure and agro-industrial development can generate employment, reduce food losses, improve farmer incomes and strengthen local economies. Such investments support not only economic growth but also more efficient and resilient food systems.
The African Continental Free Trade Area presents a historic opportunity to strengthen regional food markets and unlock new opportunities for producers and agribusinesses. By harmonising standards, improving competitiveness and facilitating trade, African countries can build stronger regional value chains while reducing vulnerabilities associated with external shocks.
At the same time, technology and innovation are opening new possibilities. Artificial Intelligence, digital agriculture, biotechnology, climate information services and precision farming tools can help increase productivity, improve resource efficiency and strengthen resilience. However, innovation must be people-centred- smallholder farmers, women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and rural communities must be able to access and benefit from these advances if transformation is to be truly inclusive.
Resilience must become a defining feature of Africa's agrifood systems. Climate change, environmental degradation and economic uncertainty require investments that help communities anticipate, absorb and adapt to shocks. Strengthening early warning systems, expanding climate-smart agriculture, promoting sustainable land and water management, and enhancing access to finance and risk management tools will be critical in safeguarding livelihoods and food security.
To navigate an increasingly uncertain future, Africa must also embrace strategic foresight. Foresight is not about predicting what will happen. Rather, it should inform decision-makers to prepare for multiple possible futures, identify emerging trends and make better decisions today. It should encourage governments and institutions to think beyond short-term challenges and invest in long-term resilience and opportunity.
This approach aligns closely with the aspirations of CAADP and Agenda 2063. It also reflects a growing recognition that the transformation of agrifood systems is central to achieving sustainable development across the continent.
The future of Africa's agrifood systems can be guided by a simple but powerful vision already being applied by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations (FAO): Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.
Better production means increasing productivity sustainably while reducing losses and improving efficiency. Better nutrition means ensuring that all people have access to safe, healthy and affordable diets. A better environment means protecting biodiversity, conserving natural resources and building climate resilience, subsequently - a better life means creating opportunities, reducing inequalities and ensuring that no one is left behind, particularly women, youth and vulnerable communities.
The year 2046 may seem distant, but the foundations of that future are being laid today. The investments made, policies enacted and partnerships forged over the next decade will determine whether Africa's agrifood systems become drivers of food security, economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and social inclusion.
There is every reason for optimism. Africa possesses the resources, knowledge, innovation and human capital needed to build thriving agrifood systems that can feed its people, create jobs and contribute to global food security.
The opportunity before us is not simply to respond more effectively to crises. It is to design agrifood systems capable of delivering sustainable solutions for generations to come.
Africa can shape a future characterized by resilience, prosperity and shared opportunity. But that future will not build itself.
The time to design it is now.
Dr Malo is Deputy Regional Representative for Africa at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
