AGRA Champions Country-Led, Youth-Driven Agriculture at UN Food Systems Summit
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia –The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has called on global institutions and investors to support country-led and youth-driven strategies to transform Africa’s food systems, as the United Nations Food Systems Summit +4 (UNFSS+4) kicked off in Addis Ababa.
AGRA’s Board Chair, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, emphasized the importance of local ownership and national alignment in food systems transformation. “Only when interventions are owned by communities and tailored to national contexts can they deliver enduring impact. Transformation must be country-led and youth-driven,” said the former Ethiopian Prime Minister.
Since the 2021 UNFSS, AGRA has worked with 11 African governments to integrate food systems strategies into national development plans, catalyze governance reforms, and build climate resilience.
The UNFSS+4 serves as a critical platform to review global progress since the inaugural summit, reinforce accountability, and galvanize action toward achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). AGRA is engaging in high-level sessions focused on unlocking capital, innovative financing models, and strengthening value chains.
Alice Ruhweza, AGRA President, highlighted the financing barriers faced by Africa’s young agri-entrepreneurs. “These innovators are full of potential but lack access to capital due to perceived risks. We need financing instruments that match their ambition and operate at scale,” she said.
C.D. Glin, President of the PepsiCo Foundation and Global Head of Social Impact at PepsiCo, echoed the need for urgent collective action. “We must think bigger, act faster, and partner in unprecedented ways to be farmer-centric and drive transformative change,” he said. PepsiCo, a strategic AGRA partner, is investing in crop value chains in countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Africa.
The summit coincides with the launch of the 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report. The report shows that while hunger declined in Southern Asia and Latin America, food insecurity in Africa worsened between 2022 and 2024. It also reveals that the gender gap in food insecurity, which had narrowed, widened again in 2024.
AGRA is also supporting over 30 African SMEs at the summit, showcasing youth-led innovations. Ahead of the event, it launched the African Digital Crop Variety Catalogue, a groundbreaking tool to support seed policy and evidence-based agricultural decision-making across its focus countries.
