𝐃a𝐲 𝟏 𝐒u𝐦m𝐚r𝐲 – 𝐏a𝐧-𝐀f𝐫i𝐜a𝐧 𝐂o𝐧v𝐞n𝐢n𝐠 𝐨n B𝐢o𝐝i𝐠i𝐭a𝐥 𝐓e𝐜h𝐧o𝐥o𝐠i𝐞s i𝐧 𝐅o𝐨d a𝐧d A𝐠r𝐢c𝐮l𝐭u𝐫e

The afternoon of Day 1 shifted from keynotes to action as participants broke into five workshops tackling urgent questions at the heart of Africa’s biodigital future. Groups explored: Agroecology and Indigenous Knowledge in a Digital Era, Justice in the Digital Food Economy with gender and youth perspectives, Seeds and Biodigitalisation, Rethinking Research for Sovereignty, and Land, Labour and Market Access in the digital economy

Lively discussions highlighted shared concerns—corporate capture of data and seeds, risks of exclusion for women and youth, and how digital infrastructures can deepen inequalities. At the same time, participants surfaced pathways for resilience: valuing indigenous knowledge, building community-controlled data systems, and defending land and seed sovereignty as central to Africa’s technological future

The group discussions closed with powerful outcomes: a call for farmer-led digital cooperatives, urgent policy frameworks that protect rights over data and resources, and stronger Pan-African solidarity to resist extractive technologies. These group reflections will directly shape strategy sessions in the days ahead, ensuring that Africa’s food sovereignty remains at the center of debates on digitalization

#BiodigitalTechnologies #Digitalization #FoodSystems #FoodSovereignty #Agroecology

𝙋𝘼𝙉 𝘼𝙁𝙍𝙄𝘾𝘼𝙉 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙁𝙐𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙀 𝙊𝙁 𝘽𝙄𝙊𝘿𝙄𝙂𝙄𝙏𝘼𝙇 𝙏𝙀𝘾𝙃𝙉𝙊𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙄𝙀𝙎 𝙄𝙉 𝙁𝙊𝙊𝘿 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝘼𝙂𝙍𝙄𝘾𝙐𝙇𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙀

AFSA and the @ETC_Group have officially launched the first-ever Pan-African Convening on the Future of Biodigital Technologies in Food and Agriculture today in Addis Ababa (2–4 October 2025).

The opening ceremony featured powerful welcome messages from @NiclasHallstrom , President of the Board of Trustees of ETC Group and Gopal Dayaneni, Co-founder of Movement Generation, who spoke on behalf of ETC Group; Hakim Baliraine, @BALIRAINEH AFSA Board Chair, who welcomed participants on behalf of AFSA; and His Excellency Siyoum Mekonnen, State Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Demography of Ethiopia, who extended Ethiopia’s official welcome.

These opening voices set the tone for a landmark gathering that is uniting over 130 participants from across Africa and beyond to debate and strategize on the future of digitalization, AI, synthetic biology, and their implications for African food sovereignty

The ceremony was anchored by a keynote from Million Belay @Million_Belay, AFSA’s General Coordinator, who spoke on Food Sovereignty and Digitalization, framing the convening as a critical moment for Africa to assert its voice and vision in global technology debates.

Over the next three days, participants will engage in keynotes, panels, workshops, and strategy sessions exploring issues of seeds, land, indigenous knowledge, labor, markets, and grassroots innovations in the digital era.

Together, they will co-develop bottom-up technology assessment tools, share African-led alternatives, and draft a collective declaration to guide the continent’s food and farming future. This launch marks the beginning of a historic journey to reimagine Africa’s digital future through an agroecological, people-centered lens

#BiodigitalTechnologies #Digitalization #FoodSystems #FoodSovereignty #Agroecology