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Kenya to host 2025 summit on financing agri-food systems
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe.
Kenya is set to host 2025 Summit on Financing Agri-Food Systems Sustainably (Finas) from May 20 to 22 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi.
The event, a culmination of months of pre-summit dialogues focused on critical areas of food systems finance, will bring together a diverse group of African and international stakeholders under the theme: “Taking Ownership: Rethinking Sustainable Financing for Africa’s Food Systems.”
The three-day summit aims to address pressing issues in the transformation of Africa’s agri-food systems by exploring strategies to bridge the continent’s significant agricultural financing gap.
The event will also seek to foster innovative, sustainable, and inclusive solutions for agricultural development.
According to the organisers, discussions at Finas 2025 will build on the key action areas identified during the 2024 dialogue series.
These include inclusive finance, the strengthening of farmer cooperatives, improvement of policy and regulatory environments, de-risking agricultural investments, leveraging technology and digitalisation, and promoting impactful partnerships across the sector.
A strong emphasis will also be placed on the roles of youth and gender in agriculture, along with the transformative potential of technology, data, research, and capacity building.
The summit will highlight the growing importance of disruptive agri-tech innovations and the power of data to unlock new financing mechanisms for farmers and agribusinesses.
Farmers attending the summit will have the opportunity to engage directly with stakeholders across the agricultural value chain, creating new marketing linkages and exploring collaboration opportunities with both public and private sector actors.
Key participants will include representatives from national and county governments, financial institutions, development agencies, research organizations, farmer associations, and international partners. The summit is expected to attract delegates from across the African continent and beyond.
Major partners supporting the Finas 2025 dialogue include Kenya’s key ministries, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), AGRA, FSD Kenya, Aceli Africa, Finance in Motion, and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Other notable partners are the Netherlands Food Partnership, Transformational Investing in Food Systems, Heifer International, Digifarm, and a range of financial lending institutions committed to reshaping agricultural financing in Africa.
The Summit on Financing Agri-Food Systems Sustainably has positioned itself as a platform for fostering robust dialogue and action around sustainable agricultural financing on the continent.