AGRA and Partners Renew Push to Mobilise Investment for Africa’s Food Systems

By Mintesinot Nigussie  |  September 5, 2026

AGRA and a group of African and international development organisations have renewed efforts to mobilise investment across Africa’s food systems, seeking to close gaps in agricultural productivity, market access, nutrition and value-chain development.

The renewed alliance was formalised at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026 in Kigali through partnership agreements between AGRA and TradeMark Africa, the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) and the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD).

The agreements are intended to strengthen cooperation across the food system, connecting agricultural production with trade, investment, nutrition and markets. The partners are seeking to move beyond fragmented interventions and coordinate resources around areas where investment can generate stronger farmer incomes, business opportunities and economic growth.

Alice Ruhweza, president of AGRA, said the renewed cooperation comes at a point when stronger coordination is needed to unlock productivity, markets, nutrition and investment across the continent.

"This is the right time to renew our commitment and to work together," Ruhweza said.

Lawrence Haddad, executive director of GAIN, called on the organisations to accelerate implementation, urging partners to "go faster and further" in addressing Africa’s food-system challenges.

Nardos Bekele-Thomas, director general of AUDA-NEPAD, emphasised the importance of coordinated resource mobilisation and implementation around African priorities.

The partnership brings together organisations with different roles across Africa’s agricultural and food economy, potentially allowing interventions to be linked from farms through markets and ultimately to consumers.

For farmers and agribusinesses, the focus is on strengthening the systems that determine whether increased agricultural production can translate into commercial opportunities. These include access to markets, trade infrastructure, investment and nutrition-oriented value chains.

The renewed collaboration comes as African countries seek to increase agricultural productivity while creating jobs, improving food security and building resilience to climate and economic shocks. Turning the continent’s large agricultural potential into commercially viable value chains remains a major challenge, particularly where financing, market access and infrastructure remain constrained.

The partners reaffirmed their ambition to use greater coordination to translate agricultural potential into higher incomes, stronger value chains and more inclusive economic growth.

"We work with many hands," Ruhweza said, capturing the approach behind the renewed alliance.

The agreements therefore mark less a new institutional arrangement than an attempt to strengthen the coordination of capital, expertise and implementation around Africa’s food-system transformation.

Source: FSX Business News