Summit spotlights Africa’s farm value gap

Nairobi became the centre of a sharper debate over Africa’s economic future on Monday as the Africa Forward Summit 2026 opened with agriculture emerging as a test of whether new Africa-France partnerships can move beyond diplomacy into measurable gains for producers.

Co-hosted by President William Ruto and President Emmanuel Macron, the two-day gathering brings heads of state, multilateral lenders, business leaders, innovators and civil society groups to Nairobi at a time when Africa is seeking greater control over the value generated from its land, labour and commodities. The summit’s agenda spans finance, energy, industry, artificial intelligence, health, the blue economy and agriculture, but the pressure around food systems is especially acute because it links inflation, jobs, climate resilience, trade balances and rural incomes.

Agriculture remains the livelihood base for millions of households across the continent, yet much of the wealth created from African crops and livestock is still captured outside producer communities. Coffee, cocoa, tea, cotton, cashew, horticulture, hides and skins often leave countries with limited processing, while packaged foods, refined products, fertiliser, farm machinery and branded consumer goods are imported at higher cost. That pattern weakens farm incomes, drains scarce foreign exchange and leaves economies exposed to global price shocks.

Kenya’s Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has argued that the summit must place farmers at the centre of negotiations, not at the margins of communiqués. His call reflects a wider African position that value addition, local equity, technology transfer, concessional finance and fair market access should become conditions for future partnerships, rather than aspirational language attached to investment announcements.

Kenya’s own experience gives the debate immediate relevance. The country is pushing higher-value activity in tea, coffee, avocado, macadamia, dairy, leather, hides and skins, while seeking to use external market access to support manufacturing and agro-processing. The Kenya-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, which entered into force in July 2024, gives Kenyan goods duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market except arms, but officials and producers say market access alone will not transform agriculture unless processing capacity, certification systems, cold storage and logistics are strengthened.

That challenge is not limited to Kenya. Across Africa, post-harvest losses remain high because farmers often lack refrigerated transport, rural roads, aggregation centres, storage, affordable energy and working capital. Perishable goods including fruit, vegetables, dairy and fish are especially vulnerable. Such losses reduce food availability and cut the returns available to farmers even before trade negotiations begin.

The African Continental Free Trade Area provides a second route for change by opening a larger regional market for processed food, livestock products, inputs and agricultural services. Its potential, however, depends on harmonised standards, faster border procedures, better transport links and financing for small and medium-sized agribusinesses. Without those reforms, tariff reductions alone may not be enough to build regional food value chains.

The Nairobi meeting also carries wider geopolitical significance. France is attempting to reset its relationship with Africa after a sharp loss of influence in parts of West Africa, while Kenya is positioning itself as a convening power linking Africa, Europe, the United Nations system and private investors. Macron’s visit and the summit’s location in an Anglophone country underline a shift away from older Francophone-centred frameworks. Ruto has described Kenya’s diplomacy as “neither looking East nor West” but “looking forward”.

Deals announced around the summit include cooperation in transport, sustainable agriculture, energy and other sectors, but the agricultural test will be whether investment reaches the midstream of the value chain: processors, cooperatives, logistics firms, cold-chain operators, input suppliers, digital advisory platforms and rural finance providers. Those actors determine whether farmers sell raw produce at low margins or participate in higher-value markets.

Technology is increasingly part of that equation. Digital platforms are connecting farmers to buyers, providing weather and soil advice, improving traceability and reducing intermediary costs. Artificial intelligence can support pest diagnosis, climate advisories and price discovery, but its benefits will remain limited unless rural connectivity, data governance, extension services and farmer trust improve.