The Prime Minister of the Republic of Rwanda, Rt. Hon. Dr Èdouard Ngirente, has officially launched the Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 annual summit, the premier forum for African agriculture and food systems in Kigali, Rwanda.
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 is expected to enhance local food production, bolster resilience to climate change, uplift African livelihoods, and harness the continent’s potential to tackle global challenges.
The theme also highlights the need to prioritise 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, the 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,” a statement made available by the African Food System says.
Speaking at the launch, the Rt. Hon. 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 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 system,”, the statement said.
Also speaking to the significance of the event, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, the Chairman of the AFS Forum Partner’s Group, emphasised the pivotal role of youth in accelerating the delivery of a 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 mobilising actions and investments on a large scale, especially from the private sector,” he said.
The launch ceremony is the premier drumbeat and kick-start event for 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, more widespread food system transformation across Africa.
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