Sponsored by African Agricultural Transformation Initiative
AATI-ATO Learning retreat during a session.
Photo credit: AATI
The African Agricultural Transformation Initiative (AATI), co-founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IFAD, AGRA, and McKinsey & Company, works to strengthen national institutions supporting agricultural transformation. Hosted by IFAD, AATI collaborates with target countries to establish Agricultural Transformation Offices (ATOs) that create delivery mechanisms to bridge the gap between strategy and implementation.
To advance this mission, AATI convened a learning retreat, bringing together senior government representatives from Tanzania and Sierra Leone, agricultural experts, and development partners. The retreat was designed to align national priorities, foster knowledge-sharing, and strengthen ATOs’ capacity to accelerate agricultural transformation.
Continuous Learning
Agriculture remains a pillar of African economies, yet climate change, weak infrastructure, and limited financing continue to hinder its full potential. The learning retreat was designed to strengthen governance, improve delivery mechanisms, and promote climate-smart solutions to ensure sustainable agricultural transformation.
A 2024 capacity needs assessment identified gaps in communication, IT skills, project management, and resource mobilisation within Sierra Leone and Tanzania’s ATOs. In response, AATI structured this retreat as a targeted intervention, fostering knowledge-sharing, strategy co-development, and visioning exercises to align priorities for 2025. The retreat aimed to translate policies into effective implementation frameworks tailored to each country’s needs.
Discussions focused on investment in climate-smart agriculture, smallholder farmer support, and digital transformation. AATI remains committed to equipping governments with tools and frameworks to bridge the gap between policy and execution.
Safia Boly, Executive Director of AATI, emphasised this vision, stating, “Our work is demand-driven, meaning government priorities must guide our actions. With 2025 presenting challenges such as electoral transitions, climate change, and supply chain disruptions, we must ensure that we understand the priorities of the two governments we support and adapt our efforts accordingly.”
Safia Boly, Executive Director, AATI making opening remarks.
Photo credit: AATI
Lessons from other agricultural transformation initiatives
The retreat provided valuable lessons from Ethiopia, Togo, and Sudan, offering proven strategies and cautionary insights into agricultural transformation. These experiences serve as a blueprint for Tanzania and Sierra Leone, guiding their efforts in refining national agricultural strategies for long-term growth and resilience.
A key factor in Ethiopia’s agricultural success has been the implementation of structured governance and performance-driven strategies. Through a focus on execution, real-time monitoring, goal-setting, and accountability structures, Ethiopia has successfully commercialised smallholder farming, strengthened value chains, and maintained policy continuity, enabling the country to respond effectively to sector challenges.
Togo’s ZAAP Model highlights how structured land-use planning and government-backed agribusiness initiatives can integrate smallholder farmers into large-scale commercial agriculture. By facilitating market access, financing, and coordinated production networks, Togo has significantly boosted rural livelihoods and agribusiness investment, reinforcing the importance of institutional backing and public-private partnerships inagricultural transformation.
Sudan’s Agricultural and Livestock Transformation Agency (ALTA) serves as a cautionary lesson on policy instability and its impact on governments ambitions. Despite its potential to strengthen livestock and crop production, the work of the ALTA was cut short following the civil unrest in the country. Lessons from ALTA align with the TASC framework, which emphasises political buy-in, strong government positioning, stakeholder engagement, and demand-driven focus areas to ensure policy resilience.
Tanzania’s Progress in Agricultural Transformation
Tanzania’s Agricultural Transformation Office (ATO), under AATI, has made significant strides since its 2023 launch. A major milestone includes securing $1.3 million from the Norwegian Embassy to implement Flagship
No. 7 of the Agricultural Master Plan, aimed at removing regulatory barriers, streamlining certification processes, expanding investment corridors, and integrating smallholder farmers into commercial agriculture. These reforms have increased investor confidence and facilitated broader market access for Tanzanian agricultural products. Additionally, agribusiness incubation programs have been expanded to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the sector.
Climate-Smart Agriculture and Reducing Agricultural Losses
Africa’s agricultural sector loses $950 billion annually due to inefficiencies, many of which are worsened by climate variability and extreme weather events. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) provides a path forward by integrating sustainable practices that boost productivity while minimising losses. AATI plays a catalytic role in agricultural transformation, equipping governments with technical expertise and delivery mechanisms to drive sustainable and inclusive reforms.
AATI strengthens national institutions to ensure the effective implementation of strategic agricultural initiatives, focusing on poverty alleviation, food security, and climate resilience. While broader efforts highlight the need for cold storage, food processing, and logistics improvements, AATI’s primary role lies in policy implementation and institutional support.
In Sierra Leone, grain reserves and seed banks provide essential farmer support, while Tanzania is enhancing fisheries financing and post-harvest management to stabilise markets.Emerging technologies like AI and data analytics are being explored to improve supply chains, minimise waste, and enhance climate adaptation across Africa’s agricultural systems.
Empowering Youth and Women in Agriculture
Agricultural Transformation Offices (ATOs) play a crucial role in strengthening government-led initiatives by providing technical expertise and delivery support while ensuring that existing systems remain intact. Their impact is evident in Tanzania’s Building a Better Tomorrow (BBT) Project and Sierra Leone’s Feed Salone Initiative, both of which are expanding youth and women’s participation in agriculture.
Tanzania’s Agricultural Master Plan (AMP) prioritises the inclusion of women and youth, recognising their role as pivotal in achieving the country's agricultural transformation goals. The AMP supports initiatives in value chain integration, land-use planning, and entrepreneurship, ensuring that these groups have equitable access to critical resources.
Similarly, Pillar 6 of the Feed Salone initiative focuses on empowering women and youth by creating economic opportunities for these groups.This pillar is cross-cutting and integrated into the program’s broader components, emphasising the essential role women and youth play in agricultural transformation.
As Dr Henry Musa Kpaka, the Sierra Leone Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, explains: "In Sierra Leone, over 70% of the women in rural areas are smallholder farmers. These women are the backbone of Agricultural transformation. Placing them at the forefront of Feed Salone's drive was deliberate. We believe empowering them with the required resources such as inputs, extension services, credit facilities, and infrastructure backed by sound policies that ensure they compete fairly will improve production and productivity."
In Tanzania, the Agricultural Master Plan (AMP) further emphasises the inclusion of women and youth as key drivers of agricultural transformation. It promotes initiatives that integrate value chains, facilitate land-use planning, and foster entrepreneurship to ensure these groups have equitable access to resources.
Aligned with this vision, the Building a Better Tomorrow Youth Agribusiness Initiative (BBT-YIA) plays a crucial role in advancing youth and women’s participation in agriculture. Targeting over 1.5 million youth by 2030, BBT-YIA focuses on agribusiness rebranding, capacity-building, and policy support to empower communities.
By aiming to create youth-led agribusiness ventures in over 12,000 villages across Tanzania, BBT-YIA exemplifies how sustainable agricultural development thrives when youth and women are equipped with the necessary tools and resources for success.
What’s Next: AATI’s Commitment to Sustainable Growth
AATI remains focused on translating the lessons from this retreat into measurable impact, ensuring that agricultural transformation efforts lead to long-term economic resilience. Moving forward, AATI will emphasise strengthening governance structures, scaling investment in climate-smart agriculture, and developing financial mechanisms that reduce reliance on donor funding. The fisheries sector remains a key focus for Tanzania.
Dr. Edwin Mhedi, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Fisheries, emphasised, “The foundation of agriculture is seeds, and in fisheries, that means fingerlings. Ensuring widespread availability of fingerlings will be key this year. We need strong partnerships to guarantee their distribution in farms and water bodies across Tanzania.”
In livestock, the focus is on genetic improvements to boost productivity. Abdul Mhinte, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Livestock, stated, “We have several priorities in Tanzania’s livestock sector, with a strong focus on improving genetics. Gene improvements will increase milk, meat, and egg production.
”Despite 38 million cattle, the sector contributes only 6% to GDP, highlighting the urgent need for enhanced breeding, artificial insemination programs, and disease control measures.
By prioritising institutional stability, private sector engagement, and climate-smart investments, AATI is ensuring that agriculture remains a driver of economic resilience and food security across Africa.
