Transforming African food systems through sustainable innovation: pathways to resilience and food security

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), a food system includes various stages, such as production, processing, packaging, distribution, consumption, and the management of food waste and disposal. Food systems are crucial in ensuring food security globally. Yet African countries have dysfunctional food systems which continue to undermine their ability to improve food security across the continent. In the current study, a meta-analysis was performed to synthesize the results of 41 primary articles from 1990 to 2024. This study assessed the impacts of African agricultural policy on sustainable food systems, focusing on food security, entrepreneurship, food safety, and climate-smart agricultural practices. The findings revealed that African agricultural policies emphasizing the promotion of an innovation system result in a more sustainable food system compared to the other two policy scenarios. The meta-regression results showed that fostering a science-based system significantly contributes to improved food security (75%) and the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices (15%). However, promoting technology systems can cause a worse sustainable food system. Considering the spatiotemporal effects estimated by meta-regressions, the greatest effects are linked to food security for the temporal effect. Thus, it is recommended that effective agricultural policy should aim to enhance food security, foster prosperity, and reduce dependency on imports. Policymakers should be cautious, as focusing exclusively on promoting technology systems can undermine the sustainability of food systems. Instead, it is advised to strengthen science and innovation to protect natural resources and minimize environmental degradation.