This issue of the Journal highlights the unique features of Africa's agriculture, including (i) the urgent need for improving productivity; (ii) the importance of the agricultural sector in Africa's economies in terms of employment; and (iii) the climate-resilient opportunities within agriculture to cope with climate change challenges. It draws attention to the fact that the agriculture sector offers possibilities for increased productivity while also adapting to and mitigating climate change thus safeguarding also future production. This is key to Africa's agricultural transformation as the majority of the population live and work within a highly climate sensitive agricultural system. The pathway to follow embraces a broader landscape approach to achieving sustainability of food production systems, and points to the fact that the use and development of natural renewable resources for production only, without paying attention to the management and sustainability of ecosystems and the services these provide, is unsustainable. A significant number of contributors to this issue of the journal make the case that working at the farm-level alone, without taking a broader landscape approach, is not sufficient to achieve sustainability of food systems.