Kigali, Rwanda - March 26th, 2024 - Prime Minister, Dr Èdouard Ngirente, officially launched the Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 annual summit, the premier forum for African agriculture and food systems in Kigali, Rwanda on March 26.

The theme for this year’s summit - Innovate, Accelerate and Scale: Delivering food systems transformation in a digital and climate era - underscores the urgent need to radically transform African food systems.This transformation should enhance local food production, bolster resilience to climate change, uplift African livelihoods, and harness the continent's potential to tackle global challenges.

The theme highlights the need to prioritize three key actions: innovating, accelerating, and scaling up. Regarding innovation, the 2024 Summit will shine the spotlight on innovative policy delivery mechanisms, financing initiatives, research, and business models. As we evolve in a digital age, the summit will showcase cutting-edge technologies and equipment to manage climate impact, digital and financing gap, food waste and loss to name a few. Participants and delegates will have the opportunity at the Summit to network with the innovators and thought leaders driving these state-of-the-art technologies and developments.

Speaking at the launch, Prime Minister Ngirente said, "To transform the agriculture sector into a powerful engine for economic development, our country is embracing innovation and making evidence-based-policy decisions. In this context, the Government has focused on de-risking the sector to ensure that it becomes more profitable and attractive for the youth and private sector actors.”

The AFS Forum will take place from September 2-6, 2024 in Kigali, Rwanda. The summit is expected to host approximately 5000 delegates from across the food systems eco system. Speaking to the significance of the event, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, the Chair of the AFS Forum Partner’s group, emphasized the pivotal role of youth in accelerating the delivery of sustainable and prosperous food system.

"With an abundance of emerging African young talents, remarkable innovations, and proven practices and solutions both locally and internationally, scaling up adaptation and replication is feasible. However, achieving this requires mobilizing actions and investments on a large scale, especially from the private sector," he said..

The launch ceremony is the premier drum beat and kick start event towards the Africa Food Systems Annual Summit , in September. The summit will bring together business leaders, potential investors, high-ranking government officials, thought leaders, and farmers under the same roof to make the connections needed to unlock investment and financing opportunities for medium and small enterprises (MSMEs), youth, women and government-led deals and unleash the potential for faster, widespread, food systems transformation across Africa.

About AFS Forum

The Africa Food Systems Forum (AFS Forum), is the world's premier forum for African agriculture and food systems, bringing together stakeholders to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African food systems forward. The Forum is a multi-sector platform comprising of 28 partners leading in African agriculture all focused on putting farmers at the center of the continent's growing economies. The AFS Forum exists to progress Africa’s Food Systems and promote agricultural excellence across the diverse landscapes of our continent.

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