SNV at AFSF 2026: Full agenda of our sessions

Soil evidence for investment decisions

Monday, 31 August | 13:30-14:30 | Location: Innovation Hub

High-quality, spatially explicit soil data can help countries identify areas of degradation, diagnose underlying constraints, and prioritise investments in practices that enhance productivity, restore soil health, and build resilience. By linking soil information to public agricultural spending, governments can move beyond blanket recommendations and target support where it is most needed.

This session will bring together diverse stakeholders to explore how robust soil information systems can guide policy, finance, and practice, and to discuss how this data can assist countries in their CAADP BR reporting processes.

Organisers: Clim-Eat, Landscape Alliance (ICRAF), and IITA

GoGettaz agripreneur prize competition, Live final pitches show

Tuesday, 1 September | 10:00-12:00 | Location: Youth Dome

Young entrepreneurs are driving innovation across Africa’s agrifood sector, developing scalable businesses that contribute to food security, nutrition, climate resilience, job creation, gender equity, and sustainable natural resource management. Yet many still lack the finance, mentorship, and visibility needed to grow their ventures and increase their impact.

The GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition will award USD 160,000 to promising young African entrepreneurs leading scalable, impact-driven agrifood businesses. Two grand prizes of USD 50,000 will be awarded to the most promising and impactful agripreneur-led business, with a further USD 60,000 recognising businesses excelling in key impact areas.

Organisers: SNV, AGRA, Yara International, and Mastercard Foundation

Connecting climate action with livelihoods

Tuesday, 1 September | 13:30-15:30 | Location: Main Plenary

Africa is on the frontline of the climate crisis despite contributing minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing droughts, floods, and land degradation are placing growing pressure across the continent. More than 61 million people in East Africa are projected to face acute food insecurity between June and September 2026. Climate action must go beyond restoring landscapes. Lasting resilience depends on whether investments can improve livelihoods, increase productivity, create jobs, and support inclusive rural economies.

This event will explore how integrated climate, agriculture, and energy solutions can contribute to rural transformation across Africa. Participants will share practical lessons, identify barriers to scaling impact, and discuss the policy, financing, and partnerships needed to build more resilient, productive, and sustainable food systems.

Organisers: GOGLA, SNV, AGRA

Unlocking the potential of resilient food systems in the Sahel

Tuesday, 1 September | 13:30-15:30 | Location: TBC

Heifer International and the Mastercard Foundation are co-hosting a High-Level Roundtable on the Sahel on the sidelines of the 2026 African Food Systems Forum in Kigali. This meeting will bring together government decision-makers, investors, financial institutions, technical partners, and the private sector to identify investment opportunities, forge concrete commitments, and strengthen partnerships for the transformation of the Sahel’s agri-food systems.

Organisers: Heifer, Mastercard Foundation

Special investment programmes for youth and women in agri-food systems

Tuesday, 1 September | 16:00-18:00 | Location: Youth Dome

Anchored in the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2035, this session explores how targeted investments are driving inclusive agri-food systems transformation across Africa. Focusing on empowering young people and women in agriculture, this session will highlight scalable models such as YEFFA and its impact in expanding access to finance, skills, markets, and innovation.

This session will share practical lessons and proven investment approaches, showcase impact, and examine how partnerships can overcome systemic barriers, strengthen youth and women’s participation, and accelerate decent job creation, resilience, and sustainable growth in agrifood systems.

Organisers: AGRA, SNV, Mastercard Foundation

Powering agri-food systems value chains amid a global energy crisis

Tuesday, 1 September | 16:00-18:00 | Location: Innovation Hub

The global energy crisis has transformed energy from a predictable operating expense into the primary bottleneck for food security. By directly choking off one-third of the global fertiliser trade alongside 20% of global oil and LNG volumes, the conflict has reshaped the economics of agri-food survival. Reliable and affordable energy is essential for more resilient and sustainable agri-food systems in Africa.

At the same time, renewable energy technologies are rapidly evolving and becoming more accessible. According to the latest IRENA reports, renewable power is emerging as the cheapest source of new electricity in most markets. As global energy markets face increasing volatility, this session will explore how African countries can strengthen energy resilience across agricultural value chains—moving it from the margins to an enabler of African food systems transformation. 

This session will examine how energy access can support competitiveness, reduce losses, strengthen rural livelihoods, and accelerate food systems’ transformation. 

Organisers: GOGLA, SNV, and Agri-Energy Coalition

Accelerating adaptation finance and partnerships

Wednesday, 2 September | 8:00-9:30 | Location: Deal Room 1 - MH1

Africa’s food systems face pressure from climate change, environmental degradation, economic shocks, and rising demand, reducing productivity and threatening livelihoods. This requires investment in climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable landscapes, energy transitions, agrobiodiversity and ecosystem restoration, recognising that mitigation can generate adaptation benefits and viable business opportunities. Yet finance remains skewed towards mitigation. Fragmented frameworks, weak risk-sharing, and gaps between policy and practice persist, while smallholders, local institutions, women and young people remain excluded. This calls for investment-ready, partnership-driven approaches for scale that better align mitigation finance with adaptation outcomes.

This event will identify practical pathways to mobilise finance, scale locally led solutions, and strengthen implementation, including through improved financial instruments in support of CAADP implementation. 

Organisers: SNV, AB-CIAT

Powering CAADP: The agri-energy nexus

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Wednesday, 2 September | 10:30-12:30 | Location: Room MH4 - Space A

Recent disruptions in Iran have highlighted the vulnerability of fossil-fuel-dependent agri-food systems, creating an urgent need for governments to accelerate the adoption of renewable-energy-powered agricultural value chains. Regenerative agriculture, combined with renewable energy for irrigation, processing, storage and value addition, offers a pathway to building resilient, productive and competitive food systems. In response to the CAADP Kampala Declaration’s calls for improved cross-sector coordination, this session will facilitate peer learning and contribute to strengthening the evidence base for nexus programming.

The goal is to catalyse partnerships and investment opportunities for integrating renewable energy and regenerative agriculture and build consensus on priority actions to inform national CAADP implementation pathways, investment plans, and food system transformation agendas.

Organisers: SNV, AGRA, GOGLA, AKADEMIYA 2063

Growing youth-powered digital markets

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Wednesday, 2 September | 10:30-12:30 | Location: Youth Dome

Digital market systems are the ecosystem of digital technologies, platforms, information services, payment solutions, logistics, institutions, and governance mechanisms that connect actors across agri-food value chains, facilitate market transactions, and improve market efficiency, inclusion and resilience. This session will discuss how digital marketplaces and market systems can move from promising pilots to trusted, viable, and inclusive market infrastructure for African agrifood systems. It will explore how stronger digital market systems can create opportunities for youth-led market solutions and for young producers, traders, and service providers.

Organisers: SNV, FAO

Surviving economic shocks: Investing in soil health

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Wednesday, 2 September | 16:00-18:00 | Location: Main Plenary

Official Development Assistance (ODA) to sub-Saharan Africa fell by 26% in 2025. Geopolitical shocks are repricing African agriculture, the war in Ukraine drove fertiliser prices to historic highs, while tensions along the Strait of Hormuz pushed urea prices higher. Meanwhile, soil degradation and climate change are increasing fragility across food systems, particularly in the Sahel zone, Congo Basin, and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Led by AUC and AU-NEPAD, this high-level plenary will examine investment responses to these interconnected pressures. It will explore how agroecology and regenerative agriculture can reduce import dependence through efficient fertiliser use, locally available manure, compost, and crop residues; stronger soil health and nutrient-use efficiency; integrated pest management; and more diversified farming systems across the continent.

Organisers: AUC, AU-NEPAD, AGRA

Financing what works in animal protein systems

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Wednesday, 2 September | 16:00-18:00 | Location: Investment Room

Livestock and aquatic food systems play a critical role in Africa’s food systems, contributing to economic growth, employment, nutrition, and trade. Across the continent, businesses, investors, governments, and development partners are developing innovative approaches to commercialisation, market development, and investment mobilisation. Through a series of interactive investment conversations, this session will explore what is working, what attracts investment, and what is needed to scale successful models across Africa. 

Organisers: Gatsby Africa, AgThrive

Financing home-grown school feeding: An investment in diet diversity for nutrition

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Thursday, 3 September | 8:00-9:30 | Location: MH1 - Deal Room 2

How can investment in school feeding drive improved nutrition security outcomes? While under CAADP, governments’ commitment to scale home-grown school meals is substantial, tight school feeding budgets hamper implementation of menu quality and diet diversity guidelines. Can domestic investments in school meals sustainably finance quality meals, promoting healthy food habits? Does school feeding stimulate increased production and consumption of nutrient rich, local climate adapted species and (NUSC) opportunity foods? How can private sector engagement facilitate minimal processed high-quality food, fortified whole grains and diversified menus?

The debate will focus on making the investments required more effective in achieving positive nutrition outcomes. Together, the panel members will assess the benefits, limitations, effectiveness, and nutrition outcomes of financing approaches and conclude with a call to action.

Organisers:  SNV, AGRA, AB-CIAT, CABI, GAIN, FWGA, ICRISAT, IDRC, Prosper Global (Mercy Corps), Rockefeller Foundation, SFI, WHH

Investing below ground: Growing from the soil up

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Thursday, 3 September | 8:00-9:30 | Location: Youth Dome

Healthy soils are the foundation of Africa’s food systems, yet soil degradation continues to undermine agricultural productivity, food security, nutrition, and resilience. Following the adoption of the African Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (AFSH-AP) and commitments under the CAADP Kampala Declaration, countries are increasingly prioritising soil health as a pathway to sustainable agricultural transformation. This session will draw on lessons from the Soil Values Programme and its partners and will showcase innovations, partnerships, policies, and practical solutions that are restoring soil health, increasing productivity, strengthening resilience, improving livelihoods, and contributing to food and nutrition security across the continent.  

Organisers: AGRA, IFDC, SNV

What makes agri-energy businesses thrive

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Thursday, 3 September | 8:30-10:30 | Location: MH4 - Space A

Energy security is essential for improving food systems, but is often overlooked in agricultural finance. Integrating energy considerations into regenerative agriculture can enhance productivity and resilience while creating opportunities for farmers, businesses, and financial institutions.

This session will share findings from research conducted with Dalberg on the factors driving profitability and business health in the sector. Participants will also hear directly from two agri-energy companies and an energy official about the opportunities presented by implementing a Regenerative Agriculture-Productive Use of Renewable Energy (RA-PURE) approach. They will discuss the challenges faced and explore ways to foster a supportive ecosystem for companies that utilise distributed energy in this sector.

Organisers: ACUMEN, SNV