The sustainable transformation of food systems to guarantee food security and create decent employment opportunities remains a critical challenge to achieve sustainable development in the Africa region, particularly against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent conflict in the Black Sea. Recent estimates highlight that the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed five million additional workers and their households below the extreme working poverty line, with young people being hit particularly hard. The number of undernourished people on the continent has reached 248 million, and the GDP decreased by more than two percent in 2020. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine may further undermine food security on the continent. FAO estimates that the global number of undernourished people could increase by 8 to 13 million people in 2022/23, with the most pronounced increases taking place in Asia-Pacific, followed by sub-Saharan Africa, and the Near East and North Africa. At the same time, climate change and the depletion of natural resources require a paradigmatic shift to ‘produce more with less’.

Against this backdrop, it is critical to boost responsible investment in agriculture and food systems that increases domestic production for food security; creates decent employment opportunities, particularly for young women and men; and contributes to sustainable development to build back better more broadly. In 2015, FAO, IFAD and WFP estimated that an additional annual 118 million USD investments in agriculture and rural development were required to eradicate hunger and poverty on the African continent. Given the multiple economic and food security shocks that have occurred since 2020, the investment gap is likely to be substantially higher than estimated in 2015. At the same time, it is crucial to improve targeting in investment promotion and facilitation policies and strategies, to ensure that investments actually contribute to build back better. The Committee on World Food Security Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI) provide concrete guidance on processes, practices and norms that public and private investors should adhere to.

Inclusive and efficient governance is critical in stimulating more and better investment while minimizing the risks of the occurrence of negative impacts. It is hence key to support inclusive processes, which help foster shared understandings on the type of investments needed and their desired impacts, and to define joint objectives among government, civil society and the private sector on how to promote and facilitate such investments. These objectives need to be transformed into coherent and predictable policies, which are essential for investors to operate in a stable environment, for communities to defend their rights, and for governments to realize the potential of rural areas. This includes, amongst others, strong investment screening and assessment processes; multi-stakeholder dialogue and concertation for improved policymaking and implementation; as well as predictable, coherent and sound policies, laws and regulations.

At the same time, it is critical that investment promotion policies and incentives regimes are not only enhanced through improved investment targeting, but also through a more diversified targeting of investors. Beyond attracting larger-scale investments, investment promotion regimes have a crucial role to play in building back better by also offering services and incentives to local actors, which can have a transformative impact on food systems, people and communities. In particular, more efforts are needed to empower young women and men, who are the future of agriculture and rural areas, to engage in agriculture and food systems.

FAO, ITOCA and partners have provided long-standing support to policy makers, parliamentarians, technical government staff, young agri-entrepreneurs, NGOs and CSOs in Africa under the FAO Umbrella Programme “Supporting Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems”, with support from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, and the French Republic.

The event: Boosting responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Africa – Good practices to #buildbackbetter

This event is organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA). The event will bring together key stakeholders from government, non-governmental organizations and agribusinesses from Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Tunisia.
The objectives of this event are:

• identifying, showcasing, and discussing good practices that boost responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Africa;
• contributing to knowledge exchange among experts and practitioners from different African countries, and encouraging the emergence of a community of practitioners; and
• Fostering commitment from dedicated stakeholders to contribute to boosting responsible agri-food systems investments and applying the CFS-RAI Principles.

The event will be held on 29-30 June in Dakar, Senegal. Some sessions of the event will also be transmitted online. The working languages of this event are English and French (interpretation services will be provided).
The event is organized with support from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Agenda of online sessions
To join online sessions, click in the this link.

The facilitation of the event will be led by Chiara Nicodemi, Capacity Development Officer, FAO and Gracian Chimwaza, Executive Director, ITOCA, with support from Andrew Nadeau, Senior Capacity Development Officer, FAO, Yannick Fiedler, Programme Officer, FAO, and Teresa Lamas Menéndez, RAI Advocacy Specialist, FAO.