NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 30— Global agricultural leaders, policymakers, scientists, agripreneurs, and farmers have converged in Nairobi for DialogueNEXT in Africa, a high-level summit aimed at accelerating agricultural innovation and strengthening food systems as the continent faces mounting climate pressures and rapid population growth.

📻 Breaking It Down

Hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation, the conference brings together stakeholders from across Africa and around the world to explore how technology, policy reforms and investment can transform agriculture and position the continent to feed a population projected to account for more than one in every four people globally by 2050.

Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Mutahi Kagwe, and Madagascar’s Minister of Livestock, Dr. Riana Nantenaina Randrianomenjanahary, are among senior government officials leading discussions at the event.

Held under the theme “Born to Feed the Future,” the conference highlights Africa’s growing role as a driver of agricultural innovation, with a focus on home-grown solutions developed by farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and regional institutions.

📌 What You Need to Know

Delegates are examining key issues including regulatory reforms, farmer-centred innovations, boosting smallholder productivity, nutrition, resilient food systems and strengthening agricultural value chains.

A high-level ministerial panel is expected to deliberate on regulatory barriers limiting agricultural investment and innovation, while dedicated sessions will showcase African agripreneurs pioneering new technologies and business models across the continent.

The Nairobi gathering marks the third stop in the World Food Prize Foundation’s DialogueNEXT series after Mexico in 2024 and India in 2025, tracing the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Green Revolution pioneer Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, who described Africa as “the last frontier” in the global fight against hunger.

World Food Prize Foundation President Mashal Husain said hosting the event in Africa carries special significance, coming four decades after Dr. Borlaug’s first major visit to the continent in 1984.

“It is an honor to hold this conference in Africa, four decades after Dr. Borlaug made his first major visit to the continent,” Husain said.

“Borlaug came with a simple but powerful conviction: that science in the hands of farmers could defeat hunger. That mission is unfinished and more urgent than ever as Africa’s food systems must feed a young, growing and increasingly urban population.”

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya