AFS Forum Dakar 2025 : Le président Diomaye décline sa vision de la transformation des systèmes alimentaires africains
Africa is touted as the future "breadbasket of the world" due to its immense agricultural potential, vast arable land, and demographic dynamism. Paradoxically, however, this ambition faces considerable challenges, including the need to first feed its own population by moving from a state of dependency to a true global food power.
Chairing the African Food Systems Forum in Dakar this Monday, September 1, 2025, alongside his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagamé, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye noted the need for Africa to undertake a profound transformation. Delivering his vision for this transformation of agriculture and food systems, with youth as the spearhead, he emphasized the need to control "water, inputs, and financing."
"There are some somewhat contradictory findings. We have 60% of the arable land, but 64% of the uncultivated land. We have the workforce, namely young people. We have the need for food because we must ensure food self-sufficiency for the 2.5 billion Africans projected for 2050, 600 million of whom will be under 25 years old. And yet we realize that we import a lot to feed ourselves in Africa, when it should be the opposite, given the potential I described earlier," he emphasized from the outset during the panel.
Before adding: "Why is all this workforce made up of young people who have the strength to work and a good part of whom do not succeed in integrating into the professional network, not interested in agriculture? That is the big question. It is precisely because young people do not consider agriculture, wrongly, as being a promising sector where they can make money."
According to him, we must "work on transforming food systems by relying on this strength." This is done first by investing in structures. That is, "by working to ensure that there is water control." The head of state believes that the continent will not be able to achieve self-sufficiency if agriculture remains dependent on rain. "To cultivate, you first need arable land, but we cultivate three months out of twelve because we essentially don't have water," he says.
Controlling inputs is also a vital necessity, according to the Head of State, since it is directly correlated with yields. "We must work on controlling inputs and, above all, on controlling yields because we are in the era of precision agriculture. Mechanize more, but modernize through innovation and digitalization, which will attract more young people," he said.
Finally, President Diomaye continues, "we must work on financing so that all these young people who are attracted to agriculture do not have a blockage in the primary installation, because what is certain is that: if they produce, they will sell." Consequently, he invites the banking system to "trust young agricultural entrepreneurs" and to "take risks."
Several major decisions are expected from this forum, which brings together more than 6,000 stakeholders in global agriculture in Dakar (August 31 to September 5). The focus will be on innovation, investment, and the renewal of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP 2026–2035) to promote business opportunities, raise the profile of young entrepreneurs, and launch transformative initiatives.
Commentaires (11)
L'État devrait donc, via le MASAE, acquérir ses propres foreuses pour proposer un service de forages à un coût raisonnable, par exemple 10 000 F par mètre de profondeur. Cette véritable stratégie permettrait aux agriculteurs d'avoir un accès à l'eau pour leurs cultures
Maintenant pour ce qui est du constat c'est du connu, rien de nouveau sous le soleil. Pour les solutions on repassera.
Ce n'est pas un è-nième forum ( réjouissances pour les politiques) qui fera que notre population mange à sa faim, que les semences sont de mauvaise qualité, que les agriculteurs ne sont pas aidés comme ils le devraient. Le trésor public sert d'argent de poche aux politiciens qui se foutent pas mal de ceux qui les ont portés au pouvoir.
Participer à la Discussion
Règles de la communauté :
💡 Astuce : Utilisez des emojis depuis votre téléphone ou le module emoji ci-dessous. Cliquez sur GIF pour ajouter un GIF animé. Collez un lien X/Twitter ou TikTok pour l'afficher automatiquement.