At the opening of the African Food Systems Forum, the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, revealed that the African continent is at a decisive turning point that requires placing young people at the heart of development policies. This involves, among other things, education and training that meet the needs of modern, intensive, and sustainable agriculture. In addition to working to promote intra-African trade by seizing the opportunities offered by the AfCFTA.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye presided over the opening ceremony in Senegal of the 19th edition of the Forum on African Food Systems, at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Center in Diamniadio (Cicad), under the theme “Youth, spearheading collaboration, innovation, and transformation of food systems,” in the presence of Rwandan President Paul Kagame. According to the Head of State, their presence reflects the importance they attach to the agricultural sector as a basis for food sovereignty in Africa. During this rainy season, President Faye regrets that agriculture is still subject to unpredictable weather phenomena, exacerbated by climate change. This, he says, limits production capacity in terms of time and space. “In addition, low yields and post-harvest losses, which can be as high as 30% of harvested products, are factors that contribute to the persistence of hunger and malnutrition on our continent,” adds Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who believes that addressing food systems is aurgent priority. He cites as evidence the FAO’s 2024 report on the state of food security, which reveals that more than 700 million people suffered from hunger worldwide in 2023, particularly in Africa. « This situation takes us further away from achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG), which is to end hunger by 2030. Worse still, if current trends continue, more than half a billion people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, half of whom will live in Africa. The continent is therefore the most at risk of facing food insecurity, » notes President Faye.
Youth, the engine of development
However, he believes that the continent has the potential to achieve food self-sufficiency. Better still, with its assets, Africa could help feed the world, he says. « Covering an area of more than 30 million km², the continent has around 65% of the world’s arable land and significant water resources. Added to this is an abundant labor force, thanks to its young population, 60% of whom are under the age of 25. According to projections, the continent will be home to 2.5 billion people in 2050, including an additional 600 million young people of working age. We are therefore at a decisive turning point that requires us to put young people at the heart of our development policies. To make African youth the driving force behind agricultural development, we must provide education and training that meets the needs of modern, intensive, and sustainable agriculture. They must then be empowered and even involved in the formulation of our agricultural policies, » explains the Head of State, before adding: « We must also invest heavily in the modernization of production tools and methodsproduction; the development of seeds and crops adapted to climate change; water management; the development of agricultural value chains, particularly through local processing of products; and digitization, » says Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who points out that this approach requires the mobilization of significant resources, such as allocating at least 10% of the national budget to agriculture, in accordance with the 2023 Maputo Declaration. According to him, this is what is being done in Senegal through the implementation of the national transformation agenda, of which agriculture is one of the main pillars. It is the central driver, he says, for achieving food sovereignty, economic development, and the well-being of the population. To this end, he announced major reforms, particularly in relation to the law on forestry and pastoralism, the regulation of imports, and transparency in the management of agricultural inputs, as well as programs to support agricultural production, the construction of crop storage infrastructure, and an ambitious policy on water management and agricultural mechanization.
Promotion of intra-African trade
Furthermore, the President of the Republic is convinced that Africa must first rely on itself to feed itself. « Let us work together to dispel the old myth that agriculture is a sector of survival, reserved for adults with no prospects. Let us make rural areas more attractive by opening them up, providing access to basic social services, and investing in ways that highlight the economic potential of each one. Let us work to promote intra-African trade by seizing the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to facilitate rapid access to products and their distribution. Let us encourage the emergence of a strong private sector capable of investing in agribusiness and supplying our domestic markets, and selling surpluses abroad. A private sector capable of supporting industrialization processes through the development of local value chains. Let us unite our will, mobilize our resources, and make the creation of robust food systems the engine of an African renaissance based on sovereignty and shared development, » advocates President Faye, convinced that young people are ready to take up the challenge.
