Africa does not lack agricultural innovation. Across the continent, researchers and national institutions have developed technologies capable of raising productivity, strengthening resilience and transforming food systems.

The harder question is: How do proven innovations move beyond pilots and research projects to become part of the large, country-led investments capable of transforming agriculture at scale?

That question took centre stage at the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) 2026 in Kigali, where leaders from governments, international financial institutions and CGIAR came together for a high-level dialogue on “Capital, Science, Partners: Connecting Scientific Innovation to Development Finance at Scale.”

Moderated by Dr Namukolo Covic, the session explored how scientific evidence, proven technologies and technical expertise can strengthen investment design, reduce implementation risks and accelerate delivery.

The message from Kigali was unequivocal: Africa’s challenge is increasingly not a shortage of innovation, but the ability to scale what already works. Doing so requires stronger and earlier connections between science, finance, government priorities and the private sector.

A bag of seed is not economic transformation

For Dr Martin Fregene of the African Development Bank (AfDB), TAAT provides a practical example of what this connection can look like.

“I can tell you that the achievements are there,” he said. “In the last eight years, TAAT has done fantastically.”

Fregene described TAAT as a practical expression of a “triple helix” that brings together research and development, government, and the private sector—the combination needed to build sustainable, resilient, and prosperous agricultural systems.

Building on CGIAR experiences such as the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) and AfricaRice, TAAT has worked to connect government priorities and policy constraints with proven science and technologies while bringing businesses into the delivery process.

The approach has helped expand certified seed production, improve seed policy environments, and demonstrate to companies that farmers are willing to adopt productivity-enhancing technologies. By helping to demonstrate both demand and commercial opportunity, TAAT has strengthened private-sector actors’ confidence to invest in agricultural innovation.

But Fregene also offered an important reminder:

“A bag of seed is not economic transformation.”

Improved seed can raise productivity, but it cannot transform an economy on its own. Infrastructure, markets, finance, policy and effective delivery systems must work alongside technology to translate higher yields into food security, poverty reduction and better livelihoods.

The experience of AfricaRice illustrates the importance of this integrated approach. Dr Baboucarr Manneh explained that bundling improved varieties with seed systems, mechanisation, processing and marketing has increased yields by as much as 50% in target areas.

Lessons from TAAT are now informing a regional West African rice programme seeking to mobilise USD 650 million, as well as rice roadmaps and investment plans developed with nine countries and ECOWAS.

For Dr Innocent Musabyimana, AfDB Chief Agricultural Technologies Officer and TAAT Coordinator, catalytic finance helped prove the TAAT model, but the next phase must go further.

TAAT has already reached more than 25 million farmers, he noted. The priority now is to embed proven technologies in much larger investment operations and strengthen private-sector participation so that delivery and adoption can continue beyond the lifespan of individual projects.

Start with the country, not the technology

For Dr Simeon Ehui, Director General of IITA and CGIAR Continental Champion for Africa, scaling requires a fundamental change in mindset.

Rather than starting with a technology and asking where it can be deployed, he argued, the starting point should be the country’s development ambition.

“Technology alone does not scale the system; systems scale technology.”

The question, therefore, is not simply “We have a technology—where can we scale it?” but rather: What is the country trying to achieve, and which combination of science, finance, policy and partnerships can help deliver that ambition?

This approach places farmers, women and young people at the centre of agricultural transformation—not simply as beneficiaries but as active participants in the systems that enable scaling.

The principle was reinforced by Dr Florence Uwamahoro, Director General of Agriculture at Rwanda’s Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board. Governments, she argued, need fewer disconnected pilots and more solutions aligned with national strategies, farmer needs and markets.

CGIAR has an important role to play in identifying and adapting appropriate innovations, but these innovations must also become investment-ready, with clear information on costs, risks, delivery models and financing requirements.

Building the science–finance interface

The Kigali dialogue also highlighted emerging mechanisms for connecting scientific expertise to development finance.

Dr Yvonne Pinto, Director General of IRRI, described the emerging ADB–CGIAR Clearinghouse, whose early portfolio covers 16 value chains and involves several CGIAR Centres. Through the facility, IRRI is contributing to a USD 600 million irrigation investment in the Philippines.

Together with the TAAT partnership, the experience provides an important foundation for South-South learning and demonstrates how science–finance interfaces can be adapted across institutions and regions.

“We cannot fund the scaling ourselves; our role is to be a partner in the mix—connecting science with the investments needed to turn nationally led priorities into impact on the ground,” Pinto said.

For Dr Tim Krupnik, Director of CGIAR Scaling for Impact, CGIAR must increasingly be recognised not only as a producer of technologies, but also as a long-term technical partner in investment design and implementation.

In 2025, CGIAR’s Scaling for Impact work influenced USD 2.4 billion in finance and investment, worked with 675 partners, directly benefited 2.19 million people and informed 35 policies.

Integrating lessons from TAAT into the programme is helping bring together CGIAR resources, AfDB investment and emerging approaches to financing technical support.

Krupnik stressed that implementation is where scaling succeeds or fails.

“If it sits on the shelf, if it sits only in a program design, it may not be implemented.”

CGIAR teams, therefore, need to remain engaged as innovations move into use—providing the technical support, coaching, and adaptation needed to scale solutions.

The same principle applies to policy: policies that are written but not implemented are not enough.

This creates an opportunity for CGIAR Centres and programmes to work with governments and investors not only as research partners, but also as sources of technical assistance that can reduce investment risks and support implementation from early design through delivery.

From technology champions to transformation partners

Closing the dialogue, CGIAR Chief Scientist Dr Sandra Milach returned to three imperatives: start with national priorities; demonstrate to governments, farmers and businesses what is possible; and tackle the financing, infrastructure, regulatory and market barriers that prevent proven innovations from reaching scale.

The objective, she suggested, should not be to become attached to technologies for their own sake, but to focus on the transformation those technologies can enable.

This is at the heart of TAAT’s scaling experience.

TAAT has demonstrated that agricultural innovation becomes transformative when it is connected to country priorities, development finance, private-sector participation, policy, markets and delivery systems.

The programme’s experience also points to a broader institutional lesson for CGIAR and its development partners: scaling should be designed from day one, with science and finance working together from investment identification and design through implementation and impact.

A new compact for scaling what works

The call from Kigali is practical.

Africa needs to institutionalise the interface between science and finance, build investment propositions around evidence, costs and risks, strengthen partnerships with institutions such as AfDB and ADB, deepen engagement with the World Bank Group and other investors, and judge success not simply by the number of technologies developed or pilots completed, but by the strength of the national systems that sustain adoption.

TAAT’s experience offers a powerful foundation for this next phase.

Its central lesson is simple:

Africa does not need to reinvent agricultural innovation for every investment or every crisis. It needs to build stronger systems for identifying what works, financing it, adapting it to country priorities and delivering it at scale.

That is the pathway from proven innovation to country-led transformation—and it is where TAAT’s experience can help shape the next generation of investments in Africa’s food systems.