On Sunday, the African Union commemorated Africa Day 2025 with a renewed call for justice, unity, and shared progress. Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, in his address to mark the day, called for bold steps toward a just and prosperous future. With its population expected to exceed 2.5 billion by 2050, he noted Africa is the continent of the future and the engine of global transformation.

Now in its 62nd year, Africa Day is the annual commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU). The AU has the objective of creating a united and free Africa that controls its own destiny. Nowhere is the vision of a united, self-reliant, and sovereign Africa more necessary than in our food systems.

Despite some progress, Africa currently faces a challenging food crisis, with 282 million people experiencing hunger, representing nearly 40% of the world’s total hungry population. The continent is not on course to meet the targets set under Sustainable Development Goal 2 to eliminate hunger and malnutrition by 2030.

As part of efforts to tackle the challenge, the African Union in January 2025 adopted the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy and Action Plan (2026–2035) to guide the transformation of the agricultural sector over the next 10 years. Since its launch in 2003 through the Maputo Declaration, CAADP has served as a cornerstone for agricultural transformation on the continent. In that declaration, African leaders pledged to allocate a minimum of 10% of national budgets to the agricultural sector, to achieve an annual agricultural GDP growth rate of 6%.

These ambitions were reaffirmed and expanded in the 2014 Malabo Declaration, which introduced even more far-reaching objectives, including ending hunger, cutting poverty in half, tripling intra-African trade in agricultural goods, and bolstering resilience by 2025. However, progress has been uneven and insufficient, and the continent is not on course to meet the now-expired Malabo targets. This recognition sparked the urgent need to shape a new CAADP vision for the period 2025–2035, focused on building inclusive, sustainable, and climate-resilient agrifood systems.

This new strategy adopts a comprehensive, value-chain-wide approach, integrating economic, environmental, and social dimensions to ensure food security, enhance nutrition, and promote environmental stewardship. The strategy aims to generate employment, increase incomes, and improve livelihoods, especially for all, especially women, youth, persons with disability, and marginalised and vulnerable groups. The plan's six strategic objectives include enhancing sustainable food production, agro-industrialisation, and trade; mobilising investment and financing for transformation; ensuring food and nutrition security; promoting inclusive and equitable livelihoods; building resilient agrifood systems; and strengthening governance in agrifood systems.

The plan calls for the strengthening of input systems, scaling up of eco-friendly practices, adoption of new technologies, and promotion of agro-enterprises. It also calls for an increase in both public and private investments in food systems, and the utilisation of innovative financing mechanisms to unlock growth. It additionally calls for the leveraging of agriculture to improve dietary outcomes and embedding nutrition into agricultural policies and practices. It additionally calls for the improvement of rural infrastructure, expansion of access to marginalised populations, and implementation of robust social safety nets.

The new CAADP plan also seeks to advance leadership, policy coherence, transparency, and stakeholder accountability for effective governance in food systems. As John Macharia, who is Kenya's country director of AGRA, observed last week, “no country has yet achieved the 10% target set by the Malabo Declaration. To move closer to this goal, prioritisation must be anchored in strong policy frameworks that drive meaningful action… Strategic policymaking can transform national food systems, enhance self-sufficiency, and reduce reliance on external markets.” The emphasis on quality leadership in Africa’s food systems cannot be overstated because whether the future leads us to a hungrier continent or a more food-secure Africa is ultimately a matter of leadership.

In Ghana, Chairman of Parliament’s Food and Agriculture Committee, Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw, who is also Chairman of the Africa Food Systems Parliamentary Network (AFSPaN), has been championing efforts to ensure CAADP targets are met. AFSPaN brings together Members of Parliament from across Africa who are united in their mission to amplify CAADP’s objectives. Through robust parliamentary oversight and collaboration, MPs in the network track national performance, push for policy reforms, and champion the voices of farmers and food producers. Now is the time for all food system stakeholders in Ghana and Africa to join AFSPaN and others to ensure these CAADP targets are met.

Africa Day is a moment to reflect on the continent’s unity, strength, and aspirations. Ensuring the full implementation of CAADP is one sure pathway to dignity, opportunity, and shared progress for all Africans. Let us celebrate Africa Day with purpose by working together to transform our food systems, empower our people, and secure a brighter, self-sustained future for generations to come.

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The writer, Dr. Joseph Opoku Gakpo, is an Agricultural Policy Analyst & CEO of HavAfric