While there are many successful development initiatives in the African region, entrenched structural inequalities and power asymmetries continue to lock out millions of people from taking charge of their own development aspirations.

The global food system is broken – it is unsustainable, unhealthy, unjust, and in dire need of transformation. Our food systems contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss, unhealthy diets, hunger, and social inequality. There is need for fundamental changes to the way our food is grown, processed, distributed, and consumed. This aspiration is at the heart of the shift from the old agricultural productivity paradigm towards food systems, in line with the concept of planetary boundaries and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The contradictions of our current food systems are growing increasingly stark: Modern industrial agriculture accelerates climate change while failing to nourish communities or sustain ecosystems. At this critical crossroads, agroecology emerges not just as an alternative farming method, but as a systemic solution that realigns our food systems with ecological boundaries and social equity.