Yearly, World Food Day reminds us that food is more than nourishment. In 2025, FAO celebrates eight decades of guiding efforts toward food security. Its chosen theme, 'Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future,' underscores a belief that sustainable food systems emerge through cooperation, a shared vision, and evidence-led action. Reflecting the belief that partnerships grounded in knowledge and shared accountability will shape how the world feeds itself in the years ahead.

Across Africa, the need for cooperation and clarity in food systems has never been more evident. Countries are placing greater emphasis on coordination, utilizing data to inform investment decisions, and fostering collaboration that yields measurable results. The conversations that took place at the FAO Hand in Hand Investment Forum in Abuja last month, where our Managing Director, Kamaldeen Raji, came on as a panelist, provided clear direction on how this can be achieved.

The Hand in Hand Approach and Nigeria.

The Hand in Hand Initiative is FAO’s global framework for accelerating agricultural growth in countries and regions with strong potential for transformation. It uses spatial data, analytics, and collaboration to help nations identify investment priorities, design implementable projects, and connect them with partners who can finance and sustain them.

During the Abuja forum, Nigeria presented a 3.14 billion dollar agricultural investment portfolio that focuses on value chains in tomato, cassava, maize, dairy, and fisheries. The portfolio was presented by Senator Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security. It follows FAO’s “Four Betters” framework: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, and a Better Life. The plan is expected to reach more than 4.1 million Nigerians through public and private investments designed to improve productivity and resilience.

In his opening address, Vice President Kashim Shettima spoke of hunger as “the great equaliser that reveals our vulnerabilities and the shared fragility of our existence.” His statement reframed food security as a coordination challenge that requires a collective response built on innovation, policy alignment, and long-term investment.

AFEX and the Big Picture

For AFEX, the call to work hand in hand resonates with our belief that cooperation is both a value and a system. Across Nigeria and other African markets, AFEX has built the structures that enable collaborations, connecting farmers to markets, creating transparency in trade, expanding access to finance, and supplying data that informs national planning.

AFEX’s ongoing initiatives demonstrate the Hand in Hand vision by linking finance, data, and partnerships to build stronger food systems across Africa.

Bridging finance and value chains:

AFEX converts stored commodities into tradable assets through instruments such as the Warehouse Receipt System, giving farmers and processors access to working capital and improving liquidity in agricultural markets.

Building shared infrastructure:

The AFEX provides structured storage, grading, and market access across multiple Nigerian states, reducing post-harvest losses and ensuring transparent commodity exchange.

Advancing knowledge and transparency:

The AFEX Annual Commodities Outlook Report and Crop Production Survey supply credible market data that helps governments, investors, and agribusinesses plan and invest with confidence.

Strengthening partnerships and regional integration:

AFEX worked with Leadway Assurance and Pula Advisors to deliver crop insurance and risk management for farmers, partners with the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) to harmonize standards in warehousing and cross-border trade, and collaborates through the AfCFTA Association of Commodities Exchanges (A-ACX) to promote a unified continental commodities market.

This work reflects the deeper meaning of the 2025 theme. Better foods are produced when farmers are supported by data, when investors have access to reliable market information, and when policies encourage innovation. A better future emerges when all of these elements function together. It produces efficiency, encourages innovation, and allows shared progress to become measurable and lasting.

Conclusively, World Food Day 2025 is a reminder that sustainable food systems are built on cooperation and shared responsibility. The global call to work hand in hand is both a reflection of progress and a guide for the future.

At AFEX, this vision remains central to our work. We continue to invest in the systems and partnerships that strengthen agricultural markets, improve farmer livelihoods, and expand access to reliable data. The goal is simple: to build a future where better foods create healthier communities and more stable economies.

Working hand in hand, we move closer to a world where food security becomes a lasting reality for all.