Experts at TIME Impact Dinner in Kigali call for integrated food system reforms to boost African smallholder farmers

Africa’s agricultural productivity has grown in recent decades, but more progress needs to be made to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and create lasting economic growth, experts agreed at the TIME Impact Dinner on Wednesday Sep. 2 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Moderated by TIME senior correspondent Justin Worland, leaders in agriculture, climate, and development discussed the progress that has been made in growing Africa’s agricultural productivity and the work that still remains.

A report released this week from AGRA, an African-led institution focused on scaling agricultural innovations for smallholder farmers and the event sponsor, shows that Africa’s farm output has roughly doubled in the last 20 years. Yet despite meaningful investments, not enough has been done to ensure that gains are not siloed, says Ismahane Elouafi, executive managing director of CGIAR, the world's largest, publicly-funded agrifood research network. “We have made increases in productivity, but not enough,” she says, noting that while a farmer might have healthy soil, they could still lack water or strong irrigation systems. “So basically, we have done it in piecemeal, but not as a food system as a whole.”

Many African countries do not treat food systems as an important part of economic and development agendas, says Kingsley Moghalu, founder of the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET) Academy and CEO of Sogato Strategies LLC, a global risk advisory firm. “Our countries look at agriculture as some niche area, and that bypasses 80% of its potential,” he says.

Agriculture is central to Africa’s economy, contributing 20% to GDP and employing over 60% of the workforce, according to the World Economic Forum. That, coupled with a rising population that is expected to represent 25% of the global workforce by 2050, could present a new avenue for growth in Africa, Kingsley notes. "It's a huge opportunity if you make [the workforce] agri-food system skilled."

Yet strengthening the food system can only happen if the needs of smallholder farmers are taken into account, says Temiyeoluwa Alabi, head of corporate communications at ThriveAgric, which connects smallholder farmers across Africa to financing, support, and markets.

“We try to emphasize the need to look at the smallholder farmer as an important … entity within the value chain,” Alabi says. “Otherwise, we can't unlock the real value, because if the farmer just won't get value for what he does, then there cannot be prosperity for him.”

Technological advances present a promising opportunity for change, says Elouafi. “In Africa there is definitely a lack of infrastructure that makes the value chain very long,” she says. “But I think now with AI, with advisory services, with the way we can really look at big data, we could make a very quick and very fast impact and improvement.”

Those opportunities shouldn’t come at the cost of farmers. “If we are to have a change, we must invest in the entire value chain,” says Elizabeth Wathuti, climate activist and founder of Green Generation Initiative. “Technology and innovation is not supposed to make the farmers realign their lives to accommodate it. It's supposed to actually look at how it's addressing the realities on the ground and what exactly the farmer is doing on the ground.”

Success must be measured in different ways—beyond a farmer’s yield, Wathuti notes.

“For farmers that are in areas that are completely degraded, it is almost impossible for them to be able to continue adapting to a changing climate. How are we strengthening the farmers and ensuring that the farmers actually have more security?” she says. “We have to also look at the profitability and the value that the farmer gets from being able to put in the work to be able to produce our food.”