Africa Food Show calls for sustainable financing of agri-food systems

By faith wanza mueni 

NAIROBI, Aug. 20 — Experts have called for stronger and more sustainable financing mechanisms to support smallholder farmers and accelerate the transformation of Africa’s agri-food systems amid climate change, food losses and limited access to affordable credit.

Speaking during the Africa Food Show Kenya 2026 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Regional Programme Manager for East and Southern Africa Moses Abukari said financing food systems required a coordinated approach involving governments, development partners and the private sector.

Abukari said IFAD was working with governments and partners to ensure farmers gained access to quality seeds, improved animal breeds, technology, advisory services and markets.

“I call myself a farmer, but behind a computer,” he said, explaining that his work involved supporting systems that enable farmers to access the resources needed to improve production.

He said sustainable financing of food systems must be guided by reliable data and tools that help governments and development partners determine where investments were most needed.

According to Abukari, IFAD, together with the World Bank and the United Nations Food Systems Coordination, has developed a tool for tracking financial flows into food systems, with Kenya among the countries where it has been piloted.

He said the assessment showed that Kenya’s national government spent about 6.6 billion dollars over a four-year period from 2018/19 to 2021/22 on food systems, translating to an average of about 1.65 billion dollars annually.

Abukari, however, noted that financing had declined after peaking during the COVID-19 period, warning that reduced investment could undermine efforts to strengthen food security, particularly as the country faces climate-related shocks.

He said domestic financing remained critical, with government accounting for about 75 per cent of the funding analysed, while international development finance contributed about a quarter.

“Domestic financing plays a key role,” Abukari said, adding that governments needed to make strategic investment decisions that would strengthen food systems while avoiding unsustainable debt.

He also highlighted food loss and waste as a major threat to food security and an area requiring greater investment.

The IFAD official said Kenya loses an estimated 99 kilogrammes of food per person annually, with the economic value of the waste estimated at about Sh20.6 billion.

He said reducing food losses should therefore form part of agricultural investment strategies, alongside production, infrastructure, nutrition and climate resilience.

Meanwhile, Fava Herbs founder and Chief Executive Officer Francisca Ochieng said smallholder farmers continued to face major barriers in accessing formal financial services despite playing a critical role in Africa’s food production.

Ochieng said many farmers possessed valuable knowledge and experience but lacked the assets and formal documentation required by financial institutions to secure loans.

She illustrated the challenge through the experience of a smallholder farmer who may seek financing to purchase certified seed, lease machinery or construct a small storage facility but is denied credit because she lacks acceptable collateral.

She said the problem was not the farmers’ willingness or ability to repay, but a financial system that had not been adequately designed around the realities of smallholder agriculture.

Ochieng noted that there were about 33 million smallholder farms across sub-Saharan Africa, representing about 80 per cent of all farms in the region. Despite their contribution to food production, less than five per cent of commercial bank lending in most African countries is directed to agriculture.

She said the financing gap was further worsened by inadequate agricultural insurance, leaving farmers exposed to drought, floods, erratic rainfall and other climate-related risks.

“Not three per cent, 97 per cent of our farmers” have no agricultural insurance, Ochieng said, stressing the need to integrate risk protection with agricultural lending.

She called for crop insurance and credit to be bundled together so that lenders and farmers could share and manage climate-related risks more effectively.

“When we insure the crop, we dis-risk the loan,” she said, arguing that reducing risks would make farmers more attractive to lenders and unlock capital for agricultural investment.

The Africa Food Show Kenya 2026, held from Aug. 20 to 22, is being convened under the theme “Transforming Agrifood Systems for Healthy Diets: From Seed to Plate” in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The conference is focusing on governance, technology and innovation, sustainable financing, food safety, community-led solutions and inclusive growth for youth, women and local enterprises.