Looking ahead: 2024 will be a big year for food systems. This is why
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With every new year comes new challenges and new things to look forward to. A question that every food systems leader must ask is; what are some of the big things happening in my industry this year that I have to keep an eye out for? And how do I continue to make steady progress toward delivering a healthy, inclusive, and sustainable food system?
For our Fellows, 2024 promises to be an exciting year of big milestones in food systems. They anticipate and look forward to contributing to food systems actions contributing to uplifting smallholder farmers, mitigating the effects of climate change on food production, promoting organic farming, and checking post-harvest losses and food waste, among others.
For Marie Aimee Ingabire, an Access to Nutritious Food Fellow, promoting the adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) among local farmers is at the top of her agenda.
The sourcing manager at Rwanda’s biggest brewer and soft beverage company, Bralirwa, plans to promote robust extension services which she says will catalyze improved yields and produce quality, effectively translating into better returns for the farmers.
Liesa Bidali also has the promotion of sustainable agriculture at the top of her to-do list. She is a Horticulture Fellow in Kenya and runs a farm that is designed to supplement a seniors’ feeding program and offer a basis for entry into farming to a predominantly pastoralist community in her community. This year, Liesa plans to leverage the collaborative skills gained under the African Food Fellowship’s Food Systems Leadership Programme to have even more impact on the ground.
“Getting all hands on deck during decision-making will increase the success rate. This includes combining local knowledge transfer from animal husbandry, and collaborating with the county and other NGOs to invest in efforts that will allow for ease of transition into crop production through proper financing thereby promoting an alternative source of income for households,” she said.
Looking ahead, Jean Paul Ndagijimana and Dieudonne Sindikubwabo, both Access to Nutritious Foods Fellows in Rwanda, are also seeking to cultivate stronger collaboration among different partners in Rwanda to promote a resilient agricultural system that conserves natural resources to produce nutritious and safe food. This is in light of the intensifying effects of climate change with droughts in the east and south, flooding and landslides in the north and west, as well as sporadic rainfall throughout the country, which all cause severe land degradation and subsequently worsen food insecurity.
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