By Juma Msafiri | May 5, 2025
As published by AGRA President Alice Ruhweza and Joost Guijt, Director, Africa Food Fellowship
As African leaders gather in Johannesburg for the launch of the African Union’s Strategy and Plan of Action for CAADP (Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme), the spotlight is firmly on one pivotal truth: Africa’s food future depends not only on policy but also on people—specifically, the leadership to implement bold, urgent change.
In their compelling joint op-ed titled “Transforming Africa’s Food System Hinges on Cultivating Leadership at All Levels,” AGRA President Alice Ruhweza and Joost Guijt, Director of the Africa Food Fellowship (AFF), issue a clarion call: “Agri-food policies can and must be improved in today’s complex world,” they assert. “The solution is to marshal a critical mass of African leaders at all levels who can deliver the results the continent’s political leaders seek.”
Their message is timely and forceful, coinciding with the African Union’s ambitious Kampala Declaration—adopted in January 2025 and scheduled to take effect in January 2026. Like its predecessor, the Malabo Declaration, the Kampala framework envisions a continental transformation of agri-food systems from 2026 to 2035. Yet, as Ruhweza and Guijt remind us, “With less-than-desired progress by many countries during the Malabo decade, what did we learn to guide the choices and the path forward?”
The Leadership Deficit in Africa’s Food Future
Ruhweza and Guijt do not mince words about the gap that has consistently undermined progress. While African nations made laudable commitments under the Malabo Declaration in 2014, the results have been mixed at best. “Africa is significantly off-track to meet the Malabo goals,” they write, citing stagnant GDP per capita growth and worsening food insecurity—affecting more than 257 million people, or over 20% of the continent’s population.
Structural challenges—climate shocks, pandemics, and market disruptions—exposed the fragility of Africa’s food systems. But behind these crises, a more chronic challenge looms: the failure to cultivate a generation of leaders who can translate vision into action.
“Our task ahead,” the authors insist, “calls for strengthening collaborative leadership and implementation networks at all levels of Africa’s agri-food systems.”
Not Born, But Built: The Case for ‘Doer’ Leaders
Perhaps the most powerful insight Ruhweza and Guijt offer is that food systems leadership is not innate; it is nurtured. As they put it, “Food systems leaders are intentionally nurtured; they are not born.” In a continent where public and donor resources are increasingly constrained, the most cost-effective strategy is “to invest in Africa’s human capabilities and networks that can drive the transformation we envision.”
One such leader is Kelvin Odoobo, CEO of Shambapro, a Rwandan agtech firm. Originally launched to connect farmers to finance and inputs, Shambapro has since grown into a multi-service platform facilitating knowledge exchange and value chain connectivity. “Because Kelvin learned the importance of connecting people,” they explain, “Shambapro has evolved into a platform that goes beyond its original purpose.”
Through his training with the African Food Fellowship and the Center for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA)—a program led by AGRA—Odoobo integrated climate-smart farming modules and launched the Shambapro Hub, now one of the region’s most dynamic agricultural collaboration platforms. “The first [business success] was always his plan; the second [collaboration] he learned to do via the AFF and CALA,” the authors point out.
When Leadership Delivers Results: Lessons from Sierra Leone and Ghana
Ruhweza and Guijt offer compelling case studies that validate their central thesis: where there is capable leadership, food systems transform.
In Sierra Leone, the Feed Salone program—launched in 2023—saw the government raise its agriculture budget from 2% to 7% in a single year, with plans to surpass 10% in the near future. This sharp increase in public commitment has unlocked investments in rice, cassava, poultry, and cocoa, while reducing dependency on food imports.
Similarly, Ghana’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative, begun in 2017, “has significantly increased maize and rice production, cut down on food imports, and generated 1.7 million jobs,” according to the article. The secret? “Capable leadership operating at implementation and political levels.”
These examples, the authors argue, must become the rule—not the exception.
From Good Policies to Great Implementation: The Kampala Opportunity
A key failure of the Malabo decade, they note, was the inability of many states to move from policy to practice. “Shall we just accept this status quo?” they ask. “No, we will not.”
Instead, they call for a systematic approach to developing food systems leaders to implement the Kampala Declaration. “New mechanisms and resources must foster many thousands of food systems leaders,” they argue, who can “foster innovation and in so doing, deliver the results Africa’s political leaders and their populations seek.”
Three Pillars of a New Leadership Movement
Ruhweza and Guijt’s blueprint for change rests on three imperatives:
- National Governments Must Prioritize Leadership
“African governments [must] allocate budgets for food systems leadership development,” they insist, embedding leadership into national food strategies—not as an afterthought but as a foundational pillar. - Development Partners Must Scale What Works
The success of CALA and AFF should not remain isolated. “Development partners [must] invest in and scale up existing food systems leadership initiatives,” they write. - Cross-Sector Networks Must Be Built and Sustained
Africa needs “new networks that draw together food systems leaders at all levels from public sector, private sector, civil society, and development community.” These networks would provide “a durable learning and support system for food systems leaders to drive implementation.”
No More Wasted Decades: The Time to Act Is Now
In perhaps the most urgent part of their appeal, the authors warn: “Africa can’t afford to lose another decade of progress.” The AU’s call for $100 billion in food systems investment to meet Kampala Declaration goals will only be fulfilled if investors “see ‘doer’ leaders driving positive change that can attract their investments.”
“We know what to do,” Ruhweza and Guijt conclude. “It’s a matter of who will do it, and how fast.”
Their final rallying cry is unmistakable:
“Join us in catalyzing a new generation of food systems leaders to achieve the Kampala Declaration’s goals. The time is now!”
Leadership-First Future for African Agriculture
Africa’s agricultural transformation will not be won in boardrooms or through declarations alone. It will be built on the shoulders of bold, collaborative, and skilled leaders who are ready to bridge the yawning gap between vision and action.
In their powerful and timely argument, Alice Ruhweza and Joost Guijt leave us with a roadmap and a challenge: invest in the people who can make good change happen.
Because only then can Africa’s food systems feed its people—and the world.