ATLAS Lab Session: Understanding and Bridging the Financing Gap in African Agriculture

Africa can become a major agricultural power. African agriculture, the backbone of the continent’s economy, has the potential to address thirteen of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) linked to food security, economic growth, and sustainability, to name but a few. However, the sector faces significant challenges including a substantial annual financing deficit of $200 billion needed to achieve the SDGs. This shortfall is exacerbated by the absence of a unified global vision for African agriculture and policy misalignments.

ATLAS (Agricultural Transitions Lab for African Solutions), an initiative launched by the Paris Peace Forum in June 2024, seeks to address this issue through a still expanding coalition of over twenty-five major institutions from the Global North and South. As a high-level platform, ATLAS promotes policy dialogue and South-North cooperation to unlock Africa’s agricultural potential by advocating for increased political attention and financing in African agriculture.

In the coming months and years, ATLAS will continue its advocacy efforts to garner political attention, will, and action. Additionally, it will publish an annual barometer of flows of investment in African agri-food systems, a lacking yet powerful political tool for advocating increased investments and ensuring transparency and accountability of commitments.