About GLF Africa 2022
GLF Africa 2022: How to build an equitable, resilient food future brought together over 8,500 participants from 122 countries and featured 182 leading scientists, activists, Indigenous leaders, financiers, youth and government leaders, and 68 incredible partners to explore African solutions to the global food crisis caused by climate change, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.
Across 31 plenaries, interactive sessions, launches, virtual tours, dialogues, performances, and a job fair, the digital conference explored ways to transform the future of food through healthy landscapes, equitable access to land, and shorter, greener value chains. Messages on social media rallied 26 million people around concrete ways for Africa to regain its food sovereignty.
Lessons and perspectives from cocoa value chains
Africa is losing an alarming 3.9 million hectares of forest ecosystems each year. This makes it crucial to create new development pathways to conserve and restore ecosystems, build sustainable food systems and create green jobs for the continent’s youth. There is an important role for green commodities in this equation, including sustainable cocoa, coffee, palm oil, corn, rice, and wheat.
The Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact Program (FOLUR) recently launched two country projects in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s largest and second-largest exporter of cocoa respectively. Scientists and entrepreneurs discuss ways to achieve green and zero-deforestation commodity value chains by sharing 3 key messages:
- Paying farmers fairly wages is a priority. “We are very aware of what could happen if we don’t protect our environment – no more chocolate! – but we need the private sector to support us financially to do so,” said Traoré Awa Bamba, the Director General of Coopérative Agricole de Yakassé Attobrou (CAYAT).
- Cacao supply chains need transparency. Traceability is critical to ensuring that purchases support operations advancing this cause: “I would like to invite everybody who buys cocoa to make sure it’s traceable,” says Bamba.
- Boosting productivity and resilience in cocoa systems for generations to come. “We need to diversify value addition so that we create more jobs and enhance revenues for governments – and thereby promote investment and reinvestment,” he said. “Financial and non-financial incentives are extremely important. They are perhaps the most crucial things that we need to do,” says Peter Minang, a principal scientist at World Agroforestry (ICRAF).
Learn about the journey of cocoa
