Africa’s food security was already on a downward trend prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of which was substantial. As of August 2022, 140 million people across 35 African countries were living in crisis or worse (IPC 3 or higher) acute food insecurity, representing an annual increase of 17 percent (20 million people).1 In addition, the effects of climate change on Africa’s agri-food systems are systemic and projected to leave at least 30 million more people at risk of hunger by 2030. Efforts to strengthen the climate resilience of Africa’s agrifood systems are therefore ongoing and critical.

The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) presented the opportunity to apply an agri-food systems approach to Africa’s existing agricultural and food security efforts. The dialogues provided platforms for governments, businesses, communities and civil society to identify pathways towards resilient and inclusive agri-food systems and to reflect on the benefits of the approach and propose strategies for its mainstreaming.  Subsequently, the UNFSS and AUDA-NEPAD have joined forces to champion a continental programme to leverage momentum gained through the 2021 UNFSS and the Africa Common Position on Food Systems. The programme aims to accelerate the implementation of national, regional and continental initiatives towards transition to resilient and inclusive agri-food systems within the context of Agendas 2063 and 2030 goals. The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) framework is to be the primary entry point for the programme to ensure country ownership and leadership.

This summary report provides insights and perspectives from the UNFSS dialogues and the CAADP 3rd Biennial Review process. Some of the main findings from the UNFSS dialogues include evidence that countries are adopting diverse approaches to move towards environmentally sustainable food production and consumption, a need to harmonise trade standards and improve access to market information, the generation of high levels of food waste, poor nutritional education and awareness including a lack of dietary diversity, a need for gender and social inclusion with a focus on land tenure and access to resources, a need for improved technologies and innovation and better access to credit and loans for food producers.

Key recommendations from the CAADP 3rd Biennial Review include the need to convene national dialogues to discuss the findings of the review, stronger political leadership and commitment to ensure financing and the implementation of key recommendations, a need to strengthen the capacity of regional economic communities to improve mobilisation of Member States, a need to strengthen mutual accountability systems, and the need to integrate the biennial review data collection process into existing national monitoring and reporting system, amongst others. These findings provide critical evidence for informing the development of a relevant, robust and inclusive Africa Agri-Food Systems Programme (2024 – 2034).