Senegal, August 2025

The Africa Food Systems Forum in Senegal: 

The CARD General Coordinator attended

The Africa Food Systems Forum 2025 (AFSF 2025) convened in Dakar, Senegal, from August 31 to September 5, 2025. AFSF is the world’s premier forum for African agriculture to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. AFSF 2025 brought together nearly 6,000 participants from 105 countries, including 2 Heads of State and Government, 6 former Heads of State and Government, 40 Ministers, as well as heads of international agencies, researchers, development partners, private sector actors, farmers, civil society representatives, and youth leaders.

*For details on AFSF 2025, please click the link below.

Africa Food Systems Forum 2025: Key Decisions & Commitments – AGRA

The General Coordinator of the CARD Secretariat (CARD GC), Mr. Shinjiro Amameishi, participated in AFSF 2025. Together with AfricaRice, CORAF (West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development), ISRA (Senegal National Agricultural Research Institute) and CARD, the event “Increasing access to seeds for sustainable and resilient food systems in West and Central Africa” was held. This event comprised cereal and horticultural seed systems. Keynote speeches were delivered by two Directors General of AfricaRice and ISRA, and the Director of Research and Innovation of CORAF. 

At this event, CARD GC presented the current situation and challenges of rice development in Africa, and the importance of seed systems in the context of rice production. Regarding the rice development in Africa, CARD GC highlighted that (a) the significant growth in rice demand leads to a sharp increase in rice imports, (b) while rice production is steadily increasing, production growth is not keeping pace with demand growth because of extremely low productivity, and (c) therefore the greatest challenge is the improvement of low rice productivity, in particular how appropriate rice cultivation techniques are disseminated to a broad range of African rice farmers. Regarding the rice seed systems, CARD GC presented that the rice seed development strategies have been formulated in 21 CARD member countries. In addition, it was presented that in collaboration with RECs, efforts will be made to promote the sub-regional distribution of quality seeds beyond borders as a key priority issue. CARD GC also presented on AGRA’s flagship seed initiative, “the Center of Excellence for Seed Systems in Africa (CESSA)”, which aims to establish more functional seed systems in countries characterized by sustained access to diverse, nutrient-dense, climate-smart seeds and a supportive policy environment.

At this event, it was emphasized that because Africa relies heavily on food imports and is obliged to allocate a significant amount of foreign currency, the enhancement of food sovereignty is necessitated in the context of food security. To promote this, improving access to high-quality seeds by African farmers is essential to boost continental food production. To realize this, it is required to review policies and take necessary actions to improve the present seed systems at both the country and regional levels and also attract the private sector investment.

At AFSF 2025, a larger number of organizations and private companies placed exhibition booths. Thanks to the cooperation of the initiative called “Africa Field Innovation Center for Agricultural Technology (AFICAT)”, which aims to foster collaboration between the African and Japanese public and private sectors by leveraging advanced agricultural technologies, especially agricultural machinery, the public relations activities of CARD Phase 2 were conducted at the AFICAT exhibition booth.

The theme of AFSF 2025 was “Africa’s Youth: Leading Collaboration, Innovation, and Implementation of Agri-Food Systems Transformation”. AFSF 2025 highlighted the pivotal role of youth in driving Africa’s agricultural transformation through their leadership, innovation, and delivery. Over 1,500 youth attended AFSF 2025, bringing innovation, ideas, and urgency. A lot of youth-related events were organized at the special event site “Youth Dome” throughout the AFSF 2025 period. Many youth leaders and youth entrepreneurs presented at the stage and showcased their dynamic and pioneering activities. All of them were quite energetic and innovative, and possessed strong information dissemination skills. Participants of AFSF 2025 were largely impressed that Africa’s future agricultural development and economic growth will be led by the African youth and reap significant fruits, which will never be unseen in other regions through the dynamism of African youth activities.

Mr. Shinjiro Amameishi, GC of CARD Secretariat presenting at the event

Many events were organized with youth

Many participants at AFSF 2025

CARD Phase2 PR activities at AFICAT exhibition booth