I have spent much of my career sitting in rooms where Africa speaks with clarity about its ambition for agriculture. I have also spent much of my career watching that clarity dissipate before it reaches the farmer. ALSO READ: New strategy targets over 800,000 youth jobs in agrifood systems I remember one of my earliest engagements at the African Union, where ministers across the continent reaffirmed their commitment to the Malabo Declaration. The language was precise. Increase public investment, drive 6% agricultural growth, eliminate hunger. Years later, I sat in a different setting - a smallholder meeting in western Kenya - listening to farmers describe delayed fertilizer delivery, weak extension support and an inability to access even the most basic credit. The gap between those two rooms is the gap we must now close. ALSO READ: Young graduates find prosperity, purpose in agribusiness This gap is not a failure of ideas. It is a failure of execution. In my work supporting AGRA programmes, I have seen how often good policy falters at the point of delivery. Strategies are drafted but not costed. Budgets are allocated but not executed. Programmes are launched but not tracked. And most critically, farmers and SMEs, the very people policy is meant to serve, are left navigating systems that do not speak to each other. ALSO READ: Youth participation: Making agriculture pay for young farmers For a farmer, the ‘implementation gap’ is not an abstract concept. It is the difference between receiving inputs in time for planting or not at all. For an agribusiness SME, it is the difference between securing working capital or shutting down a processing line. Innovative financing must reach the last mile, not just the conference room. ALSO READ: Is Africa’s quest to attract 30% of the youth to agriculture achievable? One lesson I have learned repeatedly is that innovation is often celebrated long before it is scaled. During a field visit in Zambia and Mozambique, I saw firsthand how a seemingly simple policy shift - a move from physical fertilizer distribution to a digital e-voucher system - transformed farmer experience. What began as a pilot reaching just over 200,000 farmers has now scaled to more than one million farmers nationwide, with improved transparency, faster delivery and stronger participation by private agro-dealers. For a farmer, this is what innovation looks like: not a new financial product in a report, but timely access to inputs through a system that works. ALSO READ: Farming leads Rwanda's modest job growth in Q1 We often ask why commercial banks are not lending to agriculture despite the sector contributing up to 20–30% of Africa’s GDP and employing over 60% of the workforce. The better question to ask is: why should banks deploy more financing into agri‑food systems? Banks respond rationally to the incentives we create. In Nigeria, the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) framework has helped unlock over ₦70 billion in agribusiness financing in 2025 alone. In Kenya, the Credit Guarantee Scheme has supported thousands of SMEs, reaching over 4,300 beneficiaries with strong repayment performance of 93%. These are not isolated successes. They are proof that agriculture is bankable when policy shares risk, improves data and reduces transaction costs. Policy, however, must build resilience to climate shocks whilst strengthening domestic food production systems. Climate resilience and food sovereignty are now inseparable. Across Africa, climate shocks are no longer future risks, they are daily realities. According to a 2025 World Meteorological Report, Africa has experienced its warmest decade on record, with droughts and floods increasingly disrupting food systems. I have seen this up close in northern Ghana where erratic rainfall is shortening planting seasons and in Southern Africa where drought cycles are becoming more intense and less predictable. On the flipside, Morocco’s long-term investment in irrigation illustrates what is possible when policy aligns infrastructure and climate adaptation. One of the most transformative policy shifts I have witnessed is the move toward data-driven governance. In the past, subsidy programmes often struggled with leakages and inefficiencies. Today, digital systems such as farmer registries, mobile payments and real-time tracking are making it possible to deliver support with far greater transparency and accountability. This is not just a technical upgrade. It is a fundamental shift in how states interact with farmers and markets. I have seen both sides of this story: the high-level commitments, and the lived realities of farmers and SMEs. What is clear to me is that Africa already knows what needs to be done – move from dialogue to implementation. The ultimate test for dialogue platforms such as the upcoming Financing Agri‑Food Systems Sustainably (FINAS) 2026 will not be the quality of its panels, but the strength of its outcomes. FINAS 2026 should champion the shift from dialogue to delivery unapologetically. The Summit must be clear that implementation is the most important form of agricultural finance policy. Africa does not need another conference that diagnoses the problem. It needs a platform that catalyses solutions. If FINAS 2026 will align policy, finance and delivery into a coherent system, then it will not just be relevant. It will be catalytic. If not, it risks becoming just another room where Africa speaks powerfully, but farmers return home unchanged. The writer is a Director for Policy and State Capability at AGRA and a 2017 Fellow for the Aspen New Voices Fellowship.
