The Africa Food Systems Forum in Dakar is steadily unfolding into a working space where political leaders, development partners, private investors and young innovators are testing the boundaries of what food systems transformation can look like in practice. The official theme, youth and innovation, is proving less of a framing device and more of a lived reality: from plenary halls to side events, young people are not being spoken about, they are the ones setting the tone of discussions, pitching solutions, and in some cases challenging governments directly on the pace of reform.
Instead of ceremonial exchanges, the sessions are producing pointed exchanges about financing, market access and education. At the Exhibition Hub, young agri-tech firms are displaying tools that streamline market connections, improve yields or reduce waste in supply chains. The Culinary Village is demonstrating how African food traditions can be scaled and branded for global markets, while the GoGettaz Prize is showcasing entrepreneurs who are testing the commercial viability of new models, from climate-smart farming inputs to circular-economy products. These are not side attractions to the forum, they are the core activity, illustrating in real time what a generational shift in African agriculture looks like.
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For many participants, however, innovation is not only about products and technology, but about governance. Ghanaian researcher Dr. Rose Omari has argued at the forum that if young people are to be included in food systems policymaking, they need to understand how policy actually works. She has proposed that African countries embed a mandatory module on policy processes in their education curricula. Her reasoning is pragmatic: unless young people understand how decisions are made and how institutions function, calls for youth participation risk remaining rhetorical. This argument is resonating strongly with a generation that is both eager to contribute and wary of being used symbolically.
Senegal’s own leadership is linking this policy debate to the structural modernization of agriculture. Dr. Mabouba Diagne, Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock, has been blunt in saying that young Africans are not rejecting agriculture; they are rejecting an outdated model. His insistence that digitalization and mechanization must replace low-productivity practices underscores a wider recognition that demographic realities — with over 60 percent of Africans under 25, leave little time for incremental reform. For Senegal, the launch of its Community Agricultural Cooperative (CAC) as a legacy project of the forum is intended as a concrete mechanism to embed food sovereignty and innovation in community structures, not as abstract policy commitments.
One of the most visible features of the forum this year is the Wall of Pledges. Participants, from ministers and donor agencies to agri-preneurs, are writing down specific commitments, ranging from reforms to public-private financing partnerships. The wall is deliberately public, designed to hold actors accountable beyond the photo opportunities. The message here is unambiguous: the continent has already tested pilot projects, what is required now is delivery at scale. Whether this symbolic act will translate into measurable change remains an open question, but the act of writing down and displaying commitments signals a collective impatience with business-as-usual approaches.
The conversations in Dakar are also placing weight on numbers. Each year, 10 million young Africans enter the workforce, according to the Mastercard Foundation. Without deliberate strategies to integrate them into agriculture and agribusiness, these numbers will translate into unemployment rather than opportunity. Initiatives such as Heifer International’s AYuTe NextGen, which has already mobilized over US$11 million to support youth-led agri-tech firms, demonstrate how catalytic capital can shift trajectories. The program’s creation of more than 23,000 jobs and impact on 3.5 million smallholder households illustrates what is possible when financing mechanisms are designed around youth-led innovation.
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The wider debate running through the forum is not whether young Africans are willing to lead transformation, their initiatives on display prove that they are. The tension lies in whether governments, financiers and institutions can move quickly enough to provide the policy space, investment flows and market access required for these initiatives to move beyond the start-up stage. With over 6,000 participants and 75 heads of state and ministers in Dakar, the expectation is that this year’s forum should not simply end with communiqués. It must deliver frameworks that allow the momentum of youth-led innovation to become embedded in national food systems strategies.
