World
African Union’s Summit Leaves Little Hope to Advance Agricultural Transformation in Africa
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Perhaps it was the most crucial summit held on January 9th to 11th in 2025 with a focus to raise agricultural productivity, increase public investment in agriculture, and stimulate economic growth through agriculture-led development, and ultimately seeks pathways to support African countries eliminate continent-wide hunger and reduce growing poverty.
During these past several years, African governments have taken delight in increasing imports of basic agricultural produce which could be cultivated locally.
Import substitution policy is seemingly not part of any discussions during their ministerial meetings, instead devoted time on how to approve huge budgets for agricultural products from foreign sources.
It has also taken the African Union (AU) years to initiate an agricultural programme directed at ensuring food security and cutting poverty in the continent. This cutting-edge initiative forms an integral part of the broad AU Agenda 2063.
Considered as the most ambitious and comprehensive agricultural reform effort ever undertaken in Africa, it was first launched in 2003 following the Maputo Declaration and reaffirmed in 2014 in Equatorial Guinea with the Malabo Declaration.
It has emerged as the cornerstone framework for driving agricultural transformation across Africa and represents a fundamental shift toward development that is supposed to be fully owned and directed by various African governments.
That, however, the early January Kampala summit, attended by Ministers of Agriculture from the AU’s 55-member states, thoroughly deliberated on implementing aspects of the 10-year programme, primarily to be pursued, in different stages, by stimulating investment, fostering partnerships, and empowering vulnerable smallholder farmers. Notably, the programme is set to run from 2026- 2035.
Without a single doubt, the drafting the programme which underwent a rigorous review process, took a full decade to complete; from 2014, in Equatorial Guinea with the Malabo Declaration to Kampala, Uganda, in 2025. And that what is appropriately referred to as an effective continental organization – the African Union.
The drafting of the strategy was undertaken by a broad spectrum of stakeholders including the Regional Economic Communities, African experts and researchers, farmers’ cooperatives and organizations, development partners, parliamentarians, private sector groups, women in agriculture and youth groups.
According to the official release indicated that Africa’s food security remains a pressing challenge, exacerbated by climate change, conflicts, rapid population growth, and economic disruptions.
Currently, over 280 million Africans suffer from chronic hunger while food systems struggle to meet rising demands.
Therefore, the 10-year programme is planned to address these issues by promoting climate-resilient agriculture, improving infrastructure, reducing food waste, and enhancing regional trade in agricultural goods. This is in a bid to equip Africa to feed itself sustainably.
At the Kampala ministerial meeting, Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda, Robinah Nabbanja, while recalling important statistics that point to the richness of African soils, abundance of arable land and fresh water, and a 60% population engaged in agriculture, expressed the highest shame that the continent’s food imports cost up to $100 billion.
“This summit should come up with concrete proposals on how Africa can come out of such an undesirable situation. For us to guarantee our future as Africans, we must feed ourselves,” she told the gathering in a tectonic language.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment at the African Union Commission, Ambassador Josefa Sacko, commented on the importance of the strategy, saying it “aims to boost food production, expand value addition, boost intra-Africa trade, create millions of jobs for the youth and women, build inclusive agrifood value chains, and build resilient and sustainable agrifood systems that will withstand shocks and stressors now and in the future.
Furthermore, we are dedicated to strengthening governance through evidence-based decision-making and enhancing accountability among all stakeholders. Inclusivity is a fundamental aspect of our approach; we will ensure that women, youth, and marginalized groups have access to resources, thereby facilitating their equitable participation in the agrifood sector.”
Dr Girma Amente, Minister of Agriculture of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, whose Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed, is the Champion of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy and Action Plan 2026- 2035, highlighted how Ethiopia has cascaded CAADP into the national agricultural investment plan (NAIP).
“The plan emphasizes the importance of increasing public investment in agriculture, which is crucial for achieving the CAADP target. Ethiopia has significantly increased its agricultural budget allocation and has demonstrated its commitment by meeting the 6 per cent annual growth target of CAADP.
The implementation of the National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) has contributed to consistent improvements in annual agricultural production, elevating both crop yields and overall food and livestock production, and also performed better in addressing the resilience targets of the CAADP,” explained Girma Amente.
In his turn, Uganda’s Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Frank Tumwebaze, who led the drafting of the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan in his capacity as the Chair of the Specialised Technical Committee of the AU on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment, stressed the need to move into implementation of the strategy, as soon as the summit ends.
“The planning phase of the Kampala CAADP Agenda ends during this Summit. We must, therefore, move into implementation and execution mode. It is by focusing on execution that we can make a meaningful impact to the continent and its people. We must move, not with the times, but ahead of times.
“This calls for advances in technological research and practices, building agricultural systems that are resilient to climate change and other shocks, agro-industrialization, and the like,” according to Frank Tumwebaze.
The three-day Extraordinary Summit in Kampala was organized to adopt the 10-Year CAADP Strategy and Action Plan to advance agricultural transformation and food systems in Africa. But that was dominated by high-level speeches, with little hope of concretely addressing key questions relating to ensuring food security in the continent.
The majority of African countries hold steadfastly to maintain the status quo, ready to allocate large part of their annual budgets to increase imports. There was little hope for any significant results and remarkable change in driving agricultural transformation across Africa after second day of the summit, dedicated to deliberations by Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and the 11th January meeting by Heads of State and Government.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
One year after launching a continental initiative designed to make excellence in public governance the foundation of a new drive to transform Africa, LEAD, the Africa CEO Forum’s pan-African leadership programme, takes stock of its first cohort and announces the launch of its second class. Built around a community of senior public decision-makers committed to modernising the state and to the continent’s digital transformation, this new cohort gathers for three days, from 28 to 30 August 2026, on the campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco.
A second cohort that confirms the programme’s durability
For its second class, LEAD brings together 50 fellows, senior public decision-makers engaged in the design and implementation of the continent’s economic and social policies. Over three days, participants take part in collective and collaborative working sessions, peer exchanges and meetings with figures from the public, business and academic spheres, in order to compare their practices and build shared responses to the major challenges of governance.
Speakers include Mehdi Jomaa, former Head of Government of Tunisia, Donald Kaberuka, Managing Partner & Founder, SouthBridge Group, and former President of the African Development Bank, Serge Ekue, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Sanjay Jain, co-creator of India Stack and Director of Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation, and Mauricio Cardenas, Professor of Professional Practice in Global Leadership, Columbia SIPA, and former Finance Minister of Colombia (2012-2018).
They share their reform experience, their public policy trade-offs and their view of continental priorities. Throughout the programme, the cohort benefits from the dedicated support of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Asafo & Co, BOAD, BCG and the African Development Bank, LEAD partners that have chosen to invest in the transformation of African public action.
LEAD, a pan-African community serving public action
Created by the AFRICA CEO FORUM, LEAD is a leadership programme whose ambition is to reposition Africa’s administrative elite as a driver of reform, of performance and of dialogue with all the continent’s stakeholders.
Designed for senior African public decision-makers, LEAD sets out to build a lasting community of public officials able to share their experience, compare their practices and build common solutions to the major economic, technological and institutional transformations under way in Africa. That community is structured around three pillars: modernizing the state, improving public services, and strengthening cooperation between governments, development institutions and private-sector players.
From fellows to alumni: a long-term initiative
Made up of 36 fellows drawn from a range of administrations and institutions and representing 24 countries across the continent, LEAD’s first cohort demonstrated the quality and the potential of this community from its very first year. In less than twelve months, six of its members have taken a significant step forward: two have been appointed ministers, two have moved into strategic positions at the highest level of the state and two have been promoted to chief executive roles. These moves, which account for 16.7% of the first class, show the role LEAD plays as an accelerator of impact within African administrations.
By bringing together a new cohort of fellows every year, each of them joining the LEAD alumni community, the initiative follows a long-term trajectory: in time, to unite several hundred African public decision-makers around a shared culture of transparency, performance and regional cooperation.
A first year devoted to public service and digital public infrastructure
Throughout the year, the fellows devoted their work to strengthening African public action, to make excellence in public governance a central lever of transformation. An awareness campaign, run as part of Africa Public Service Day, brought to light those who, within the continent’s administrations and institutions, are concretely transforming public policy and improving the services offered to citizens.
Members of the cohort also took part in a special round table held in Kigali during the ACF 2026, in order to carry their thinking to a wider community of public and private leaders. That forum reinforced LEAD’s role as a platform for dialogue between the administrative elite and the continent’s economic players. Digital public infrastructure (DPI) formed the main thread of this first year of work.
Discussions covered issues at the heart of the digital sovereignty of African states: digital identity, payments, secure data exchange, interoperability, governance and the protection of citizens. This work examined the conditions under which African states are developing, in some cases, and can develop, in others, shared, open infrastructure robust enough to improve the quality of public services while supporting local innovation and preserving the capacity of public authorities to set the rules of the game.
A white paper to move from consuming technology to creating value
This year of work concludes with the publication, in collaboration with BCG, LEAD’s Knowledge Partner, of a white paper on Africa’s place in the digital economy and in artificial intelligence. With the digital economy still accounting for around 5% of African GDP, against close to 15% worldwide, the paper calls on the continent to shift from a logic of technology consumption to one of value creation.
The white paper identifies three structuring priorities for African public actors:
- Building shared digital infrastructure that serves as the backbone of public services and private innovation.
- Pooling investment in order to reach critical mass and avoid the fragmentation of efforts across the continent.
- Favouring open and interoperable architectures, with trust and governance built in by design, so as to protect citizens while stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The white paper is available here to all public decision-makers, technical partners and institutions concerned.
“LEAD’s first cohort confirms a simple conviction: Africa already has the women and men capable of profoundly transforming public action. Our responsibility, either with our partners, is to give them, at pan-African level, a space in which to compare experience, build common solutions and bring forward a new generation of public policy. With this second cohort, we want to accelerate the move from ambition to execution, in particular on digital public infrastructure and artificial intelligence, two decisive issues for sovereignty, for the effectiveness of the state and for value creation across the continent,” says Amir Ben Yahmed, President of the Africa CEO Forum.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa is set to make history as it hosts the World Public Summit for the first time, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, welcoming global leaders and changemakers from July 29–30, 2026, for the landmark gathering under the theme “New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
The inaugural African edition of the World Public Summit marks a significant milestone in the continent’s growing role in shaping international dialogue on governance, sustainable development, human-centred leadership and global cooperation.
Hosted by the World Peoples Assembly in partnership with African and international organisations, the summit will convene government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, journalists, youth representatives, civil society organisations and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world.
According to Andrey Belyaninov, General Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, “the Summit is not just a meeting—it is a space for unity. A space where the ‘values that unite us’ come to life: respect for people, openness to the world, responsibility for the future, and a commitment to creation.
“Today, we understand more clearly than ever: the future cannot be built alone. It is born in dialogue, in trust, in the ability to listen to one another and to act together.”
The programme begins on July 29 with a series of high-level roundtables and expert discussions covering Pan-African economic integration, civil society, education, scientific cooperation, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian partnerships.
The opening plenary, “Values, Development and Partnership as the Basis of a Sustainable and Just World,” will explore how African values—including Ubuntu—can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable global future. Discussions will also focus on youth leadership, innovation, civil society, ethical AI, public initiatives and international partnerships.
The summit will also showcase Africa’s creativity and innovation through the “Innovations for the Future” exhibition, the contemporary African art exhibition “Unity,” and the international exhibition “The World Paints Happiness.”
Another featured initiative is “The Zambezi River: Economy, Society, Soul,” an international interdisciplinary project exploring the river’s socioeconomic importance across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting the shared heritage and development potential of one of Africa’s most important waterways.
The event will conclude with the adoption of the African Communiqué, reflecting the summit’s shared vision for stronger international cooperation, sustainable development and people-centred leadership.
Tsegaye Chama, General Secretary of the Global Black Centre, promised that, “The Summit will be delivered with exceptional distinction, reflecting the magnitude and spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. It embodies a unity that is not transactional, but purposeful and conscious, a unity that shapes new contours for a world that works for all peoples of the World.”
As delegates prepare to arrive in Addis Ababa, anticipation continues to build for what promises to be one of Africa’s most significant international gatherings of 2026—one that will place the continent firmly at the centre of global conversations about the future.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
