By David Njagi 
DAKAR, Senegal (PAMACC News) - The first African food experts meeting since the 
US government withdrew funding for food systems ended with promising indicators 
that the continent is edging towards stimulating its agricultural production with locally 
sourced financing.   
Held in Dakar, Senegal, the 2025 Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF), which was attended 
by the development community, civil society, business and political leaders, brought aboard 
new partnerships ranging from funding, collaborations and commitments, aiming to 
accelerate the continent’s food transformation. 
The livestock ministerial session on improving dairy and meat production, and the energy 
ministerial session on tapping renewable energy to power the continent’s irrigation systems, 
along with the agri-food expo on advancing value additionwere held for the first time since 
the AFSF was established. 
In a rare twist from the past, agroecology advocates joined food experts at the Forum, 
sending signals that Africa is shifting strategies on how it plans to address rising food and 
nutrition insecurity by diversifying engagements between agri-biz and indigenous food 
systems experts. 
“Collaborations are showing there is some goodwill people are seeing in agroecology,” said 
ManeiNaanyu, the Head of programs at the Participatory Ecological Land Use Management 
Association in Kenya (PELUM- Kenya), during a session on how young agriprenuers are 
leading food systems transformation through agroecology for people and planet, organized by 
SNV Netherlands Development Organization and Biovision Foundation. 
Setting the pace for agriculture local financing agenda were Senegal, Zimbabwe, Uganda, 
Nigeria, Liberia and Somalia, who committed more than $6 billion in public investments to 
advance country food systems transformation, with wide focus on value addition. 
To battle reliance on rainfed agriculture, food that is wasted from farm to plate, and 
mechanization that releases greenhouse gas emissions, AGRA, along with the global 
association for off-grid solar, GOGLA, Power for Food Partnership, initiative by SNV, along 
with 12 other partners launched the agri-energy coalition to tap the power of renewable 
energy.  
The Gulf Cooperation Council signed an MoU with AFSF, even as the Gates Foundation, the 
World Bank, Co-Develop and the Center for Digital Infrastructure released an Agriculture 
White Paper aimed at boosting efficiency in governments in terms of data flow and financial 
transactions. 
The OCP Africa and Nutricorp partnership meanwhile set course for promoting fertilizer 
production and use in Africa as the Dutch government said it could commit 3 million Euros 
to support smallholder farmers agriculture cooperatives in Senegal for the next five years.