For us at PanAfrican Agriculture we have dedicated our time in recent weeks reflecting on the trends and major events in Africa’s agriculture and food systems in the past year to see where the story will take us next. That has been a daunting task, as you can imagine, because a lot of things happened in 2023!

We believe, however, that the tone for the 2024 food systems agenda for the continent was set at the two biggest agriculturefocused events of 2023. First was the Africa Food Systems Summit in September in Tanzania where calls were made for urgent action to accelerate food systems transformation through better policies, practices and investments.

The push for inclusive food systems particularly took centre stage, with experts and lobby groups warning that the dream transformation won’t be realised unless the agricultural value chains are made more inclusive for smallholder farmers, including critical groups such as women, youth and agri-SMEs.

The other key moment was COP28, which took place in Dubai between November 30 and December 12. The climate conference opened with a declaration on sustainable agriculture signed by 134 countries and saw a food systems road map laid out by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The FAO pathway emphasizes cutting methane emissions from livestock by 25 percent and halving food waste emissions by 2030, and recommends growing a more biodiverse range of crops. To help our readers gain a deeper insight into the new food systems agenda, we feature, in our cover story for this first edition of 2024, Dr Cary Fowler – who is perhaps the world’s most famous champion of crop diversity. Dr Fowler, the founder of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and the US Envoy for Global Food Security, is spearheading the Vision for Adaptive Crops (VACS) – an effort launched by the United States, the African Union (AU), and the FAO to support more resilient food systems by developing climate-resilient, nutritious crop varieties and building healthy, fertile soils.

For our special report, we bring you a comprehensive package of research breakthroughs and innovations in different African countries, many of them seeking to make food systems resilient and sustainable. Catch up on these and other stories in our print version of the magazine, e-paper and website (panagrimedia.com). Have a prosperous and resilient New Year!