SNV at AFS Forum 2026: Full agenda of our sessions

Investing Below Ground: Growing Africa from the Soil Up

Monday, 31 August | 8:00-9:00

Healthy soils are the foundation of Africa’s food systems, yet soil degradation continues to undermine agricultural productivity, food security, nutrition, and resilience. Following the adoption of the African Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (AFSH-AP) and commitments under the CAADP Kampala Declaration, countries are increasingly prioritizing soil health as a pathway to sustainable agricultural transformation. This session will bring together ministers, development partners, research institutions, private sector actors, farmer organizations, and technical experts to discuss how Africa can scale sustainable agricultural production through improved soil health management. Drawing on lessons from the Soil Values Programme and its partners, the discussion will showcase innovations, partnerships, policies, and practical solutions that are restoring soils, increasing productivity, strengthening resilience, improving livelihoods, and contributing to food and nutrition security across the continent.  

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Organisers:

Water-to-Work: Investing in Climate-Adaptive Water Economies for Resilient and Job-Rich African Food Systems

Monday, 31 August | 16:30-17:30

Climate-adaptive water economies offer significant opportunities to create jobs, particularly for Africa's growing youth population, stimulate local enterprise development, and strengthen economic resilience across Africa. Yet investments in water infrastructure, climate adaptation, skills development, entrepreneurship, and MSME growth are often planned and financed separately, limiting their potential to generate sustainable employment and broader economic benefits. 

This session will explore how governments, investors, development partners, and the private sector can better align investment, partnerships, and workforce development to unlock the job creation and enterprise development potential of climate-adaptive water economies. Drawing on evidence and practical experience, participants will examine how connecting water investments with skills development, youth entrepreneurship, local service economies, and market development can create employment opportunities while contributing to more resilient and inclusive food systems. The discussion will highlight the investment, partnership, and policy approaches needed to scale climate-adaptive water economies and expand employment opportunities for young people across Africa. 

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Organisers: WHH

​​Climate Resilience​ Thematic Plenary: Connecting climate action with livelihoods

Tuesday, 1 September | 13:30-15:30

Africa is on the frontline of the climate crisis. Increasing droughts, floods and land degradation are placing growing pressure on livelihoods, food systems and rural economies, despite the continent contributing minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions. With more than 61 million people in East Africa projected to face acute food insecurity between June and September 2026, there is an urgent need to strengthen climate-resilient food systems.

Climate action must go beyond restoring landscapes. Lasting resilience depends on whether investments improve livelihoods, increase productivity, create jobs and support inclusive rural economies.

This event will bring together policymakers, practitioners, investors and development partners to explore how integrated climate, agriculture and energy solutions can strengthen livelihoods and accelerate rural transformation across Africa. Together, participants will share practical lessons, identify barriers to scaling impact, and discuss the policy, financing and partnerships needed to build more resilient, productive and sustainable food systems.

Location: Main Plenary Stage

Organisers: GOGLA, SNV, AGRA, IKEA​ Foundation

Innovation Hub Session: From Energy Crisis to Food Systems Opportunity​

Tuesday, 1 September | 16:00-18:00

The global energy crisis has transformed energy from a predictable operating expense into the primary bottleneck for food security.   By directly choking off one-third of the global fertilizer trade alongside 20% of global oil and LNG volumes, the conflict has reshaped the economics of agrifood survival.  Reliable and affordable energy is essential for transforming Africa’s agri-food systems, from irrigation and cold chains to processing, logistics, transportation, or digital services. At the same time, renewable energy technologies are rapidly evolving and becoming more accessible. Yet, agrifood and renewable energy actors still largely operate in silos. As global energy markets face increasing volatility, this session will explore how African countries can strengthen energy resilience across agricultural value chains through renewable energy, decentralized systems, innovative technologies, and strategic investment partnerships. This interactive session brings together agrifood leaders, policymakers, renewable energy experts, innovative companies, investors and practitioners to explore how renewable energy can move from the margins to an enabler of African food systems transformation.  

From latest IRENA reports, renewable power costs remain low, making renewables the cheapest source of new electricity in most markets and further strengthening their cost advantage over fossil fuels. In total, installed renewables helped avoid an estimated USD 480 billion in fossil-fuel costs in 2025, turning renewables into a geopolitical shock absorber against fossil-volatile systems in energy crisis. Discussions will examine how energy access can support competitiveness, reduce losses, strengthen rural livelihoods, and accelerate food systems’ transformation. 

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Organisers: GOGLA, SNV

Accelerating Adaptation Finance and Partnerships

Wednesday, 2 September | 08:30-9:30 GMT

Africa’s food systems face pressure from climate change, environmental degradation, economic shocks, and rising demand, reducing productivity and threatening livelihoods. This requires investment in climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable landscapes, energy transitions, agrobiodiversity and ecosystem restoration, recognizing that mitigation can generate adaptation benefits and viable business opportunities. Yet finance remains skewed towards mitigation. Fragmented frameworks, weak risk-sharing and gaps between policy and practice persist, while smallholders, local institutions, women and youth remain excluded. This calls for scaled, investment-ready, partnership-driven approaches that better align mitigation finance with adaptation outcomes.  

This event will convene key actors to identify practical pathways to mobilize finance, scale locally led solutions and strengthen implementation, including through improved financial instruments responding to CAADP’s implementation. 

Location:

Organisers: SNV, CABI, AGRA, FCDO, GATES, CLIC, KickStart Intnl. 

Investment Room Session: Financing What Works in Animal Protein Systems

Wednesday, 2 September | 16:00-18:00

Livestock and aquatic food systems play a critical role in Africa’s food systems, contributing to economic growth, employment, nutrition, and trade. Across the continent, businesses, investors, governments, and development partners are developing innovative approaches to commercialization, market development, and investment mobilization. Through a series of interactive investment conversations, this session will explore what is working, what attracts investment, and what is needed to scale successful models across Africa.   

Location: Investment Room Main Stage 

Organisers: Gatsby Africa, AgThrive

​​Sustainable Production​ Thematic Plenary: Surviving economic shocks and investing in soil health

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Wednesday, 2 September | 16:00-18:00

The collapse of Overseas Development Assistance will lead to a sharp spike in hunger, malnutrition and livelihood impoverishment on the African continent. ODA to sub-Saharan Africa fell 26% in 2025. Geopolitical shocks are repricing African agriculture: the Ukraine war drove fertiliser prices to historic highs; Strait of Hormuz tensions sent urea prices up significantly. The WFP projects 363 million people facing acute hunger across 53 countries. At the same time, soil degradation and the climate crisis increasingly risk derailing African food systems. Political, social, economic and environmental fragility will rise, particularly in critical nutrition security, land degradation, climate and biodiversity hotspots such as the Congo Basin, the Sahel zone and other regions in Sub-Saharan Africa.  

This plenary session will be a high-level event (led by AUC, AU-NEPAD) that relates both to investments (theme of AFSF) and the geopolitical situation due to increase of fertilizer costs. The discussion can promote agroecology and regenerative agriculture to reduce the dependency of fertilizer imports. This includes using fertilizer more efficiently; gradually substituting mineral fertilizer with locally available organic resources such as manure, compost, and crop residues; investing in soil health by improving nutrient-use efficiency and strengthening soil organic matter; reducing the use of agrochemicals through integrated pest management; and diversifying farming systems.  

Location: Main Plenary Stage 

Organisers: SNV, AGRA, IFDC

Accelerating Adaptation Finance and Partnerships

Wednesday, 2 September | 08:30-9:30 GMT

Africa’s food systems face pressure from climate change, environmental degradation, economic shocks, and rising demand, reducing productivity and threatening livelihoods. This requires investment in climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable landscapes, energy transitions, agrobiodiversity and ecosystem restoration, recognizing that mitigation can generate adaptation benefits and viable business opportunities. Yet finance remains skewed towards mitigation. Fragmented frameworks, weak risk-sharing and gaps between policy and practice persist, while smallholders, local institutions, women and youth remain excluded. This calls for scaled, investment-ready, partnership-driven approaches that better align mitigation finance with adaptation outcomes.  

This event will convene key actors to identify practical pathways to mobilize finance, scale locally led solutions and strengthen implementation, including through improved financial instruments responding to CAADP’s implementation. 

Location:

Organisers: SNV, CABI, AGRA, FCDO, GATES, CLIC, KickStart Intnl. 

​​2nd Ministerial Deep Dive on Livestock: Scaling What Works in African Livestock Systems

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Wednesday, 2 September | 16:00-18:00

The 2025 Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) in Dakar hosted the first-ever Livestock Ministerial Deep Dive, bringing together ministers from nine African countries. The discussion affirmed livestock as a strategic priority for Africa’s development and highlighted the need for a dedicated ministerial platform. Ministers called not only for the conversation to continue, but to move from dialogue to action.

The 2026 session responds to that call. It will position livestock as central to Africa’s food systems transformation, recognising its vital role in livelihoods, jobs, trade, and economic growth. Supporting more than 70% of rural livelihoods across the continent, the sector is critical to achieving the ambitions of CAADP, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and more resilient, competitive, and market-oriented food systems.

This year’s ministerial dialogue will focus on how Africa can scale what works through stronger regional livestock value chains, strategic partnerships, and investment. Drawing on country experiences, discussions will explore the policies, partnerships, and financing needed to expand successful approaches beyond national borders. By bringing together ministers, regional institutions, development partners, and the private sector, the session aims to strengthen regional cooperation, unlock investment, and accelerate livestock transformation at continental scale.

Location: Roundtable

Organisers: ILRI

Scaling the Youth Enterprises Ecosystem

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Wednesday, 2 September | 8:00-9:30

This event will bring together youth agripreneurship accelerator labs and innovation challenge initiatives across Africa i.e.Youth Food Lab, Food Systems Innovation Challenge Initiatives, Go Gettaz Agri-preneurship Prize Competition, to join forces to build a robust ecosystem alliance to meaningfully support youth-led enterprises to move from incubation to scale. 

By bundling forces, identifying complementarities, and exchanging best practices among partners, we aim to break siloes and duplication of efforts, and to create a platform that facilitates scale of challenge-based learning approaches that have proven successful in various contexts to stimulate entrepreneurial mindsets among students and move youth-led enterprises from incubation to scale. Together, we can unlock each other’s platforms, build bankable youth-led agribusiness pipelines and leverage pooled funding to unlock catalytic finance for youth-led agripreneurs from early-stage to scale for Africa’s food systems transformation.  

 Location: Youth Dome

Organisers: SNV, AGRA, Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP), Wageningen University & Research (WuR), FAO

Investing in Africa’s Resilient Food Systems: Advancing Sustainable Production Through Regenerative Agriculture

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Thursday, 3 September | 8:00-9:30

African food systems face growing climate shocks, soil degradation, rising input costs, and market volatility, creating major risks for farmers, agribusinesses, and investors.  

Although regenerative agriculture is widely recognized for its environmental benefits, such as soil restoration, reduced dependency on costly inputs, improved circularity, yield stabilization under climate stress, supply chains strengthening, and access to climate finance and premium markets, its role in business resilience and investment strategies remains underrepresented in policy and private-sector discussions.  

This side event will explore regenerative agriculture as a scalable and commercially viable pathway for resilient agrifood systems in Africa. It will showcase business models, financing mechanisms, and partnerships that align profitability, resilience, and sustainability, while identifying evidence gaps and opportunities to accelerate investment and adoption at scale. 

 Location: AFSF26-135​

Organisers: CGIAR, SNV, Ikea Foundation

Financing Home-Grown school feeding: An investment in food systems transformation

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Thursday, 3 September | 8:00-9:30

This session will highlight the importance of investment in school feeding to drive improved nutrition and food security outcomes, in the context of the African Food Systems transformation process and the global socio-economic and security developments.

While African governments’ commitments under CAADP for the scaling of home-grown school meal programmes are growing, the global poly-crisis puts school feeding budgets under pressure, affecting the implementation of school menu quality and diet diversity guidelines. How can governments through public investment and domestic funding sustainably finance the diet diversity and menu quality in school meals that promote healthy food habit creation. Are there examples where school feeding builds effectively on public-private-partnerships stimulating increases production and consumption of nutrient rich, locally adapted (neglected underutilised species) opportunity foods? What models of private sector engagement facilitate diverse procurement that serves minimal processed high quality food and menus.

Bringing together people who have earned their stripes in innovative approaches to school feeding, supplying healthy, diversified, culturally appropriate, sustainably produced, nutritious meals, the debate will focus on the investments required and financing methods they used. Pro’s, con’s and effectiveness of the different options and their impact on nutrition improvements will be put to scrutiny, leading to a call for action.

 Location: AFSF26-136​

Organisers: SNV, SFI/EDC, CIAT, GAIN, WHH​