• African Union launches 10-year strategy to transform food and farming sectors.

• Goals include raising farm output by 45% and cutting post-harvest losses by 50%.

• The plan targets CFA100 billion in investment and stronger food security.

The African Union has officially launched a new strategy to transform agriculture across the continent. During a ceremony held on May 5 in South Africa, the AU Commission introduced the 2026–2035 Action Plan of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). Alongside the plan, officials also presented the Kampala Declaration, which sets out the goals and guiding principles for the next decade.

The roadmap calls for major changes to African food systems. Key targets include raising agricultural output by 45%, tripling intra-African trade, cutting post-harvest losses by half, and mobilizing $100 billion in investments over 10 years.

The strategy focuses on sustainable food production, agro-industrial development, regional trade, greater investment, and improved food and nutrition security. It also aims to strengthen inclusion, local governance, and resilience in food systems that are often hit hard by climate shocks, conflict, and poor infrastructure.

“We recognize that agriculture is not just about production, but about creating a holistic system that encompasses production, processing, distribution, and consumption,” said Moses Vilakati, the AU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. He added that the action plan supports the creation of sustainable and resilient food systems to ensure a healthier, more prosperous Africa.

The plan also seeks to tackle deeper structural problems across the continent, including food insecurity, biodiversity loss, gender inequality, unemployment, forced migration, and rising inflation. In many African countries, these issues are made worse by external shocks and weak economies.

Millions of people across Africa still live with food insecurity due to a mix of challenges: armed conflict, climate change, poverty, outdated farming methods, and a heavy dependence on imported food. These issues continue to block access to healthy, affordable meals.

In response, several local and international groups are stepping in. In 2024, the African Development Bank’s board approved $102.79 million to fund a regional program that supports sustainable agriculture in Guinea, Senegal, and Togo. The initiative focuses on strengthening agricultural value chains in Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs).

The CAADP program was first introduced in 2003 in Maputo to help grow Africa’s agricultural GDP by 6% annually and push governments to spend at least 10% of their national budgets on agriculture. In 2014, the Malabo Declaration expanded that framework with seven new commitments for 2025. However, while some countries have made progress, the continent as a whole has not yet met those goals.

Africa also remains extremely vulnerable to climate change. Nine of the world’s ten most exposed countries are in Africa, and some governments are already spending up to 9% of their budgets to deal with climate-related issues.