FAO calls for African agrifood systems innovations to move beyond pilot projects and reach farmers at scale

Addis Ababa,  232news – Africa must accelerate efforts to turn scientific advances and innovations in agrifood systems into practical solutions that reach millions of farmers, agribusinesses and rural communities, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu urged today at the opening of the Africa Science and Innovation Forum (ASIF 2026) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Addressing 700 participants, including senior government officials, scientists, innovators, investors and development partners, the FAO Director-General stressed that scaling up innovation requires not only new technologies, but stronger policies, institutions, financing and partnerships.

“These innovations must now move beyond the pilots to reach Africa’s farmers, agribusiness, and rural communities to deliver impact on the ground,” QU Dongyu said in a video message to the Forum.

Africa’s scientific and entrepreneurial capacity is growing, with advances in climate-resilient crops, livestock technologies, sustainable fisheries and digital agricultural services. However, the continent still accounts for only about eight percent of global public agricultural research and development spending, highlighting the need for greater investment to bring promising innovations to scale.

The three-day Forum (27 to 29 October) aims to help bridge the gap between research and implementation and identify practical ways to scale up innovations across the continent.

Speaking at the high-level opening ceremony, Ethiopia’s State Minister of Agriculture H.E. Sofiya Kassa welcomed participants to Addis Ababa and highlighted Ethiopia’s experience in advancing agrifood systems transformation through initiatives such as the Wheat Self-Sufficiency Programme and Green Legacy Initiative. She called for stronger links between science and policy to bring practical innovations to scale. “An innovation that remains in a laboratory or a demonstration plot cannot transform a continent. It must be accessible, affordable, appropriate to local conditions and supported by the infrastructure, skills, institutions and investment needed for adoption at scale,” she said.

“Africa’s future will not be determined by the number of innovations we generate, but by the number we successfully scaled up,” said Moses Vilakati, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment.

In his keynote address, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa Abebe Haile-Gabriel challenged stakeholders to adopt a stronger culture of accountability, learning and evidence-based investment. “The task is not to prove that progress is possible. Rather, it is to understand what works, for whom, at what cost, and to build the institutions and financing that allow effective solutions to reach many more people,” he said.

He also called on African governments to match their commitments to agrifood systems transformation with concrete action, predictable funding and measurable results, warning that repeated declarations risk becoming empty promises without the resources, clear responsibilities and accountability needed to deliver them.

Showcasing African innovations

Following the opening ceremony, participants visited the Forum’s innovation exhibition, where exhibitors from across Africa are showcasing technologies, products and practical solutions to agrifood systems challenges. Examples include innovations from Ghana that convert organic waste into fertilizers and biostimulants, a Sierra Leonean enterprise developing eco-friendly poultry incubators and locally produced animal feed, and a Nigerian initiative using solar-powered food processing and cold storage to support women farmers and improve school meals. Other innovations include a nature-based system from Tunisia that treats saline water for agricultural use, and research from Rwanda on improving women’s access to cold-chain technologies to reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen horticultural value chains.

Over three days, the Forum will examine how science, technology and innovation can support more productive, resilient, inclusive and sustainable agrifood systems. Discussions will focus on five key pillars: productivity and value-chain optimization; resilience and environmental sustainability; the interface between science, technology, innovation and policy; investment and partnerships; and inclusivity, with particular attention to women, young people and small-scale producers.

A key expected outcome is the development of a regional roadmap to translate commitments on science and innovation into concrete actions. Proposals under consideration include strengthening regional innovation hubs, improving access to scientific knowledge and proven technologies, expanding financing to take successful innovations from pilot projects to market, better tracking of investments and progress, and an annual youth agrifood innovation challenge.

The Forum is organized by FAO in collaboration with the Government of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture, and Agricultural Transformation Institute, the African Union Commission, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM).