At the 2025 Africa Food Systems Forum in Dakar, Senegal, a new multi-stakeholder alliance—the Agri-Energy Coalition—was officially launched to address critical challenges at the intersection of agriculture and energy in low- and middle-income countries. The coalition brings together leading organisations from the agriculture, energy, and development sectors to deliver sustainable and scalable solutions that transform food systems through integrated energy access.
The Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA) highlighted that over 600 million people in Africa lack electricity, most of them in rural areas where agriculture forms the backbone of local economies. These regions face major hurdles, including post-harvest losses, inefficient value chains, and high production costs, largely driven by limited access to sustainable, reliable, and affordable energy. The coalition aims to leverage decentralized renewable energy (DRE) solutions, such as solar irrigation and cold storage, to increase yields, reduce food waste, and improve livelihoods.
The Agri-Energy Coalition focuses on strengthening coordination among agri-energy actors, facilitating cross-sector partnerships, expanding access to finance, and promoting knowledge exchange to bridge implementation gaps. It also aims to enhance policy advocacy through unified messaging, encourage integration across energy, agriculture, food systems, water, and environmental sectors, and scale inclusive models that can be adopted by agri-food actors. Carlos Sordo, Senior Project Manager at GOGLA, emphasized that the coalition seeks to unlock low-emission growth, improve smallholder livelihoods, and strengthen food security by powering all stages of agricultural production with clean, affordable energy.
Building on momentum from the 2024 African Food Systems Forum, the coalition has already produced shared positioning documents and promoted peer-to-peer learning among organisations and governments. Its diverse membership includes the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Energy Saving Trust, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), GOGLA, IKEA Foundation, IRENA, IWMI, Partners in Food Solutions, REEEP, SEforALL, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, and Wageningen University & Research. Together, these partners aim to harmonize approaches and drive coordinated strategies, policies, and investments to strengthen the nexus of food, energy, water, and environmental sustainability across Africa.
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