GAIN and AGRA sign deal to push nutrition into Africa’s food systems

GAIN and AGRA signed a letter of intent in Kigali on the sidelines of the Africa Food Systems Forum to make healthier diets more accessible, affordable and sustainable across Africa. The partnership aims to connect farm output more directly to nutrition outcomes as more than 1 billion Africans could not afford a healthy diet in 2024.

Why it matters: - Africa’s agricultural output has grown, but millions of households still cannot access safe, affordable and nutritious food. - The partnership is meant to narrow the gap between what Africa grows and what Africans eat. - Better nutrition is tied to health, productivity, entrepreneurship, job creation, supply-chain resilience and lower pressure on health systems.

What happened: - The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and AGRA signed a letter of intent on the sidelines of the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. - The agreement aims to make healthier diets more accessible, affordable, desirable and sourced from more sustainable systems for Africans. - The announcement came as both groups renewed their push to make Africa’s food systems more nutrition-centric.

The details: - The partnership will focus on five areas: mainstreaming nutrition into the African Food Systems Forum’s strategic direction; embedding nutrition across AGRA’s investment areas; generating evidence and data for scale; helping countries accelerate food systems transformation by 2030 through the Accelerator Initiative; and promoting gender inclusion, agripreneurship and job creation. - AGRA President Alice Ruhweza said no single organization can close the gap between farms and plates. - Ruhweza said AGRA and GAIN will work to build markets for nutrient-dense foods, mobilize private investment and track whether diets are improving, not just harvests. - GAIN Executive Director Lawrence Haddad said the number of Africans who could not afford a healthy diet passed 1 billion in 2024. - Haddad said that means 2 in 3 Africans cannot afford a meal that supports health. - The partnership will also generate actionable data to identify which agricultural investments deliver the strongest nutrition impact. - The groups plan to scale what works through know-how, awareness, joint publications and convenings for governments, investors and practitioners.

Between the lines: - The LoI signals a shift from treating farm productivity and nutrition as separate goals to managing them as one system. - The emphasis on evidence, financing and market-building suggests both groups want to influence policy and investment, not just program delivery. - The focus on gender and jobs reflects a broader view that food system change has to work through supply chains and local economies.

What’s next: - GAIN and AGRA will support countries working toward food systems transformation by 2030 through the Accelerator Initiative. - That work will include engagement with governments, businesses, development finance institutions and public development banks. - The groups will also align action programs around sustainable practices and nutrition outcomes. - GAIN and AGRA said they will continue producing joint research, publications and convenings to strengthen food-systems thinking across stakeholders.

The bottom line: - GAIN and AGRA are betting that Africa can improve nutrition faster by linking agriculture, markets, finance and policy around the same goal: healthier diets for more people.