By Michael Omotosho |
The Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme is taking a prominent position at the African Food Systems Forum (AFSF) 2026 in Kigali, where policymakers, development partners and agricultural stakeholders are examining how Africa can move beyond emergency responses and build food systems that are better prepared for future shocks.
TAAT will feature in two high-level events during the forum. The first will examine lessons from Africa’s recent emergency food production response, while the second will focus on how proven agricultural technologies can be taken from research and demonstration to large-scale investment and implementation.
Together, the discussions put the spotlight on an issue that has become increasingly important for the continent: how to turn short-term responses to food crises into lasting improvements in food security.
From emergency response to resilience
Africa’s food systems have faced a series of major disruptions in recent years.
The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war all affected food production, supply chains and access to key agricultural inputs across the continent.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict added further pressure, cutting off roughly 30 million metric tonnes of cereal supplies from the Black Sea region and contributing to higher prices for food, fuel and fertiliser.
In response, the African Development Bank launched the $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility (AEFPF) to help countries increase food production and reduce the impact of the crisis.
The facility operated across 35 countries, supporting improved seed systems, access to fertiliser, agricultural technologies, policy reforms and partnerships aimed at strengthening food production.
At the centre of that response were technologies promoted through TAAT, which helped provide practical agricultural solutions that could be deployed at scale.
The results have been significant.
The facility has contributed to the production of more than 45 million metric tonnes of food, while more than 406,000 metric tonnes of certified seed and 2.9 million metric tonnes of fertiliser were distributed.
Nearly 15 million farmers were reached through the intervention, with women accounting for 38.8 per cent of those beneficiaries.
Those figures are now providing the basis for a wider conversation about what Africa should do with the lessons from the emergency response.
What happens after the emergency?
That question will take centre stage at a high-level side event on September 2 at the Kigali Conference Centre.
Titled From Emergency Responses to Food Systems Resilience: Lessons Learned from the AEFPF for Africa’s Next Generation of Agricultural Investments, the event will bring together agriculture ministries, national research institutions, development partners, CGIAR centres, private sector representatives, financial institutions, farmers and youth organisations.
The discussion will look at what worked during the emergency response and how those lessons can be carried into long-term agricultural investment and food security planning.
A key focus will be on scaling technologies and partnerships that have already demonstrated results instead of waiting for another crisis before deploying them.
Participants will also examine how proven technologies can become part of national agricultural investment programmes, giving countries a stronger foundation for responding to future disruptions.
The discussion will further consider the partnerships that helped move agricultural technologies quickly during the emergency, as well as the need for stronger monitoring and evaluation systems to measure their impact.
The shift is important because responding to a food crisis after it has already begun can be more difficult and costly than building resilience before the next shock occurs.
Taking agricultural science to scale
The conversation continues on September 3 with CGIAR Scaling in Food Systems: Capital, Science, Partners.
The session will bring together development finance institutions, governments and development partners to discuss how agricultural innovations can move from research institutions into large-scale national programmes.
The African Development Bank–CGIAR partnership behind TAAT will be among the examples examined, alongside the Islamic Development Bank–CGIAR partnership.
The challenge for many African countries is no longer simply the availability of agricultural research or technologies.
The harder part is moving technologies that have already been proven to work from the laboratory, research centre or demonstration stage into the hands of millions of farmers.
That process requires more than science alone.
It requires financing, strong partnerships, supportive policies and systems capable of taking successful innovations to a much larger scale.
This is where the ADB–CGIAR Clearinghouse Facility comes into the discussion. The facility helps identify and validate proven innovations, package them for investment and support their implementation.
TAAT provides a practical example of this approach.
Through the programme, agricultural science has been linked with investment and implementation, helping technologies move beyond research and demonstration into wider agricultural programmes.
The wider effort has also received catalytic support from partners including the Gates Foundation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Islamic Development Bank.
Their support is aimed at reducing the risks associated with adopting agricultural innovations and helping unlock larger investments in agricultural transformation.
Beyond the next food crisis
For TAAT, the two discussions in Kigali are connected by the same challenge: how to turn lessons from crisis response into long-term food system resilience.
The emergency food production programme demonstrated what can happen when technology, finance and partnerships are brought together quickly.
The next challenge is ensuring that those gains continue beyond the emergency that created the need for them.
The conversation at AFSF 2026 is therefore moving beyond how Africa responds when food supplies are threatened.
It is also about whether countries can make the necessary investments before the next crisis arrives — in better seeds, agricultural technologies, research, farmers, financing and stronger food systems.
For TAAT, its experience offers a model of how these different elements can be brought together.
The programme’s role at the Kigali forum is therefore not only about looking back at what happened during Africa’s recent food emergency.
It is also about what comes next.
As African countries continue to face climate pressures, conflicts and disruptions to food supply chains, the lessons from TAAT and the AEFPF could help shape how agricultural investments are designed and how proven technologies are taken to farmers at scale.
The bigger test will be whether the continent can turn those lessons into sustained investment and stronger food security, rather than returning to emergency measures only when the next crisis hits.
Share this
