AFS Forum 2026 | From breakthroughs to bankable innovations
Moving proven agricultural innovations beyond pilots and into country-led transformation
Africa does not lack agricultural innovation. The harder question is how proven science becomes part of the large, country-led investments that can transform food systems. That challenge brought leaders from governments, international financial institutions and CGIAR together at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026 in Kigali for the dialogue, ‘Capital, Science, Partners: Connecting Scientific Innovation to Development Finance at Scale.’
Moderated by Dr Namukolo Covic, the session explored how scientific evidence, proven innovations and technical expertise can strengthen investment design, reduce implementation risks and support delivery. The central message was clear: the challenge is increasingly one of scaling and investment, not simply innovation. Partnerships must connect science and finance earlier, more systematically and around national priorities.
A bag of seed is not transformation
Dr Martin Fregene of the African Development Bank (AfDB) was unequivocally positive about Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT). ‘I can tell you that the achievements are there,’ he said. ‘In the last eight years, TAAT has done fantastic.’ He presented it as a practical expression of the ‘triple helix’ of research and development, government and the private sector—the platform for sustainable, resilient and prosperous agriculture.
Building on CGIAR models such as the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) and AfricaRice, TAAT connected government needs and policy constraints with science and proven technologies, while involving businesses in delivery. Fregene highlighted its achievements in expanding certified seed production, improving seed-policy environments and showing companies that farmers will adopt productivity-enhancing technologies. By proving demand and commercial opportunity, TAAT has given private investors greater confidence to participate. Its experience, he suggested, offers other financial institutions a model for engaging CGIAR collectively and turning research into country-led delivery.
His endorsement came with a challenge to build on that success. ‘A bag of seed is not economic transformation,’ Fregene said. TAAT’s achievements provide the foundation, but infrastructure, markets, finance, policy, and delivery systems are also needed to translate productivity gains into food security, lower poverty and better livelihoods.
The evidence nevertheless shows what becomes possible when these pieces are brought together. Dr Baboucarr Manneh explained that AfricaRice’s bundled approach—combining improved varieties with seed systems, mechanization, processing and marketing—has raised yields by as much as 50 percent in target areas. Lessons from TAAT are now informing a regional West African rice program seeking to mobilize USD 650 million, alongside rice roadmaps and investment plans developed with nine countries and ECOWAS.
Dr Innocent Musabyimana, AfDB’s Chief Agricultural Technologies Officer and TAAT Coordinator, said catalytic finance had helped prove the concept, but could not by itself deliver transformation. TAAT has reached more than 25 million farmers, he reported. The next phase must embed proven technologies in much larger investment operations while strengthening private-sector participation so that delivery continues after projects end.
Start with the country, not the technology
For Dr Simeon Ehui, Director General of IITA and CGIAR Continental Champion for Africa, the starting point must be reversed. Instead of asking, ‘We have a technology—where can we scale it?’, researchers should ask what a country is trying to achieve and which combination of science, finance, and partnerships can help. ‘Technology alone does not scale the system; systems scale technology,’ he said. Farmers, women, and young people must be actors in those systems, not simply beneficiaries.
That country-first principle was reinforced by Dr Florence Uwamahoro, Ag Director General of Rwanda’s Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board. Governments do not need more disconnected pilots, she argued. They need solutions aligned with national strategies, farmer needs and markets. CGIAR can help identify and adapt suitable innovations, but it must also make them investment-ready by clearly setting out costs, risks, delivery models and financing requirements.
Anup Jagwani of the World Bank Group pointed to Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) as one model of this partnership. Following results across six African countries, the World Bank Group has approved USD 46 million in new financing to expand the program in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Zambia. He also highlighted AgriConnect as an opportunity to connect country compacts and policy reforms with proven CGIAR innovations.
Building a systematic science-finance interface
Dr Yvonne Pinto, Director General of IRRI, described the emerging ADB-CGIAR Clearinghouse, whose early portfolio involves 16 value chains and engagement across several CGIAR centers. IRRI, through this facility, is engaged in a USD 600 million irrigation investment in the Philippines. Together with TAAT partnership, this offers a basis for South-South learning and shows how science-finance interfaces can be adapted across institutions and regions. “We cannot fund the scaling ourselves; our role is to be a partner in the mix—connecting science with the investments needed to turn nationally led priorities into impact on the ground.”
CGIAR Scaling for Impact Director Dr Tim Krupnik argued that CGIAR must be seen not only as a producer of technologies, but as a long-term technical partner in investment design and delivery. In 2025, Scaling for Impact influenced USD 2.4 billion in finance and investment, worked with 675 partners, directly benefited 2.19 million people and informed 35 policies. Integrating the TAAT model into the program is also helping combine CGIAR funding, AfDB investment and an emerging pay-for-services approach for technical support.
For Krupnik, the decisive issue is implementation. ‘If it sits on the shelf, if it sits only in a program design, it may not be implemented,’ he said. CGIAR teams therefore need to remain engaged as innovations move into use: ‘It’s not enough to supply. We work to actually coach and bring them through a process where they can be grown into scale.’ The same applies to institutional reform, because ‘policies written but not applied are not enough.’ He invited investors and governments to consider CGIAR centers and programs not just as researchers, but as sources of technical assistance that can reduce investment risk, and support partners from early design through implementation. This is also why the TAAT experience must be adapted, rather than copied wholesale, for partners such as ADB and the World Bank Group.
Closing the dialogue, CGIAR Chief Scientist Dr Sandra Milach returned to three imperatives: start with national priorities; show governments, farmers and businesses what is possible; and tackle the financing, infrastructure, regulatory and market barriers to scale. CGIAR must move beyond ‘falling in love’ with technologies and focus on the change they enable.
The call to action from Kigali is practical: institutionalize the interface between science and finance; build investment propositions around evidence, costs and risks; and design for scale from day one. Strengthen partnerships with institutions such as AfDB and ADB, deepen engagement with the World Bank Group and other investors, and judge success by the strength of national research and delivery systems.
