African Conference on Agricultural Technologies Charts Course for NextGen Solutions

July 11, 2025

ARTICLE

The African Conference on Agricultural Technologies (ACAT) 2025 in Kigali, Rwanda, brought together over 700 participants from 35 countries to accelerate agricultural productivity growth through innovative technology deployment. The June 9-12 conference emphasized farmer-centric approaches and multi-sectoral collaboration as essential pathways to achieving sustainable productivity growth across the continent.

The Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) Initiative actively participated in this landmark event, sharing exhibition space with fellow partner organization Sasakawa Africa Association and showcasing the GAP IQ data platform through live demonstrations. This collaborative presence reinforced the GAP Initiative’s commitment to bridging the gap between innovation and widespread adoption—a critical factor in achieving the 2 percent annual total factor productivity growth target needed to sustainably feed the world by 2050.

ACAT 2025’s theme, “NextGen Ag-Tech Solutions for Africa’s Farmers,” directly addressed the productivity growth challenges facing smallholder farmers who produce the majority of Africa’s food. The conference featured 27 technology exhibitions demonstrating integrated packages that bundle improved seeds, fertilizers, agrochemicals, and mechanization with digital services and effective distribution systems. This bundling approach exemplifies the GAP Report’s emphasis on combining productivity tools with socio-economic interventions and policy support to cross the “Valley of Death” between innovation and adoption.

Key Commitments Advancing Productivity Growth

The conference produced concrete commitments that support accelerated productivity growth through several mechanisms:

Enhanced Public Investment: Ministers from Rwanda, Ghana, and Malawi committed to increased budget allocations for agricultural technology infrastructure and training at public universities. These investments in agricultural innovation systems create the foundation for sustained productivity growth by strengthening research capacity and knowledge dissemination networks.

Youth Empowerment as Growth Catalyst: Recognizing that 160 youth participants represented Africa’s demographic engine, delegates established specific mechanisms for youth-focused agri-innovations, mentorship programs, and improved access to finance. This focus on next-generation farmers ensures productivity growth strategies reach those who will drive agricultural transformation over the coming decades.

Last-Mile Delivery Solutions: The conference emphasized strengthening the suite of services, products, and technologies reaching farmers’ fields. Participants committed to scaling participatory extension models, including farmer-to-farmer training and smart village approaches, which research shows can accelerate technology adoption rates by 30-40 percent.

Evidence of Progress Since ACAT 2023

The communiqué highlighted tangible productivity growth achievements since the inaugural ACAT in Nairobi. Partnerships formed in 2023 have contributed to substantial advancements in scaling climate-smart crop varieties and agro-processing innovations. These technologies have enhanced crop productivity and improved farmer livelihoods, demonstrating the real-world impact of sustained collaboration.

The conference also showcased successful models of technology bundling. Eight live demonstrations featured scalable technologies integrated with marketing systems and digital services, providing practical examples of how to overcome adoption barriers that typically prevent smallholder farmers from accessing productivity-enhancing tools.

Strategic Implications for Continental Productivity Growth

ACAT 2025’s resolutions reinforce several strategic priorities for achieving sustainable productivity growth:

Regional Policy Harmonization: Delegates called for alignment between national aspirations and continental blueprints like the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026-2035. This harmonization reduces regulatory barriers to technology transfer and creates larger markets for agricultural innovations, accelerating their development and deployment.

Intellectual Property Frameworks: The conference addressed the complex balance between protecting innovation incentives and ensuring broad access to technologies. Participants endorsed inclusive, open-source licensing models for plant materials while strengthening local capacity to manage intellectual property responsibly.

Traditional Knowledge Integration: A notable commitment involves developing transparent frameworks for integrating traditional technical knowledge in soil fertility, pest control, and climate prediction into formal R&D systems. This approach leverages existing farmer knowledge while introducing modern innovations, potentially accelerating adoption rates.

Looking Forward

The establishment of ACAT as a biennial continental forum creates a sustained platform for advancing agricultural productivity growth. The commitment to organize Strategic Dialogues on Agricultural Technologies (SDATA) between conferences ensures continuous engagement on critical productivity challenges.

For stakeholders working to accelerate agricultural productivity growth, ACAT 2025 provides a clear roadmap: success requires bundling technologies with supportive services, prioritizing farmer needs in innovation design, and building multi-sectoral partnerships that can scale proven solutions. The conference demonstrated that no single entity can drive agricultural transformation alone—collaborative approaches that combine public investment, private sector innovation, and farmer knowledge offer the most promising path to achieving sustainable productivity growth targets.

The next ACAT conference in Nairobi in May 2027 will assess progress against these commitments, providing accountability and momentum for Africa’s agricultural transformation journey.