In 1215, English barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, a charter that limited the power of the monarchy and established the principle that no one, not even the king, was above the law. It did not instantly create democracy, but it marked a decisive shift from unchecked authority to accountability, institutions, and rules that constrained power.
Africa’s food systems are overdue for a similar moment.
On January 1, 2026, the African Union’s new 10-year agricultural development strategy officially began.
Known as the CAADP Kampala Declaration, it sets ambitious targets: a 45 percent increase in agrifood output, a 50 percent reduction in post-harvest losses, a tripling of intra-African agrifood trade, an increase in locally processed food to 35 percent of agrifood gross domestic product, and reducing poverty by 50 percent.
What distinguishes the Kampala Declaration from previous CAADP iterations is not only the scale of its ambition, but its underlying logic. It recognises that increasing public budgetary allocations in agriculture, and productivity gains alone will not deliver food security.
Instead, it calls for inclusive leadership, systemic transformation, stronger governance, resilience to climate shocks, and alignment with the broader food systems agenda that has emerged since 2020. This shift is welcome, but history urges caution.
Since its launch in 2003 under the Maputo Declaration, and its reaffirmation in 2014 through the Malabo Declaration, CAADP has been Africa’s most comprehensive agricultural reform framework. It is African-owned, politically endorsed, and technically robust.
Yet implementation has been inconsistent and outcomes disappointing. By 2021, only Rwanda had met the overall Malabo target score.
Most countries remain off-track on agricultural investment, productivity growth, nutrition outcomes, and resilience-building.
These gaps are often blamed on inadequate financing or limited access to technology. Those constraints are real. But they mask a deeper problem: weak leadership capacity across the Africa’s food system.
Food systems transformation is ultimately a governance challenge. It depends on how decisions are made, how institutions coordinate, how trade-offs are managed, and how accountability is enforced. Leadership is not a “soft” add-on. It is a core enabling condition, alongside finance and innovation.
The 2026-2035 CAADP Strategy acknowledges this explicitly, identifying leadership as essential for effective implementation. This is especially critical at a time when aid budgets are shrinking and public resources are under pressure. Africa cannot rely on foreign money alone. It must improve the quality, quantity, and connectivity of leadership driving food systems change.
This is where initiatives such as the African Food Fellowship and Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture’s leadership programme matter. By equipping agrifood actors with skills in problem-solving, coalition-building, governance, and execution, such programmes help close the gap between policy ambition and real-world impact.
Early evidence suggests stronger leadership improves institutional performance, policy delivery, and community-level outcomes.
If the Kampala Declaration is to become Africa’s Magna Carta for food systems, it must do more than set targets.
It must catalyse a new generation of leaders who are accountable to all actors and capable of designing and implementing policies that respond to climate shocks safeguarding people, livelihoods, and ecosystems.
Declarations do not transform food systems. People do.
The writer is a climate action enthusiast and a communications specialist at Windward Communications Consultancy.
