Amanda Namayi

Happy new year readers!

It’s been a long time coming and I am back like I never left.

January carries with it a palpable sense of hope, rejuvenation and renewal. Vision boards being pinned on walls, “new year, new me” manifestos being declared and “Goals for the Year” being penned in crispy new diaries.

This year was declared the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF 2026) by the United Nations General Assembly, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The aim is to spotlight women whose ingenuity feeds and sustains the community. Women are central to food production, not only in Africa but world over. In sub-Saharan Africa, women produce approximately 70–80% of food in subsistence farming and they make up more than half of the agricultural labour force. Despite their essential role, women remain under-resourced, under-represented and under-invested. IYWF 2026 is poised to change that narrative with intentional action, advocacy, policy shifts and visibility.

Last year deepened my conviction that transformation in food systems must be anchored in leadership, inclusion and collaboration. I remember the vibrant energy at the World Food Forum; the joy of seeing innovations from around the world being showcased, from startup innovation awards spotlighting food solutions to youth education labs exploring digital tools for nutrition and sustainability.

Prior to the World Food Forum in Italy, I was in Dakar, Senegal, for the Africa Food Systems Forum 2025 (AFSForum2025) — one of the continent’s most consequential gatherings championing food systems transformation. It was hosted under the theme, “Africa’s Youth: Leading Collaboration, Innovation and Implementation of Agri-Food Systems Transformation,” . There, I had the privilege of moderating sessions that illuminated how agri-food systems work when passion meets purpose. One session featured a keynote address by Mrs. Betty Kibaara, Director at The Rockefeller Foundation — an extraordinary leader whose mentorship has shaped my own journey. Her humility, hands-on leadership and unwavering commitment to growing people around her, hearkened me to do better for myself and for others. Women have superpowers I believe, because how Mrs. Kibaara manages to juggle her multiple leadership roles while handling her personal duties of wife and doting mother, leaves me in awe.

Women and youth are not ancillary voices in the agrifood ecosystem; they are central protagonists — innovators, entrepreneurs, farmers, policy advocates and community organisers. The AFS Forum2025 seemed liked a precursor to the year of the woman farmer, as plenaries like “Empower Women in Agri-Food Systems,” where the launch of The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems report underscored both gender gaps and pathways to redress them.

I think of women agripreneurs trimming barriers and building enterprises; youth innovators translating indigenous knowledge into climate-smart tools; and policy dialogues that are now more inclusive of the voices closest to the soil. They represent real shifts in who gets to shape the future of food.

The International Year of the Woman Farmer invites us to elevate those whose hands continue to shape our agrifood systems and to acknowledge women’s leadership as the bedrock of resilient food systems.

This year, I aim to highlight the work of ladies who continue to shatter unimaginable glass ceilings in the agrifood industry, carving a name for themselves, their business(es) and the women in Agriculture around them.

“Who run the world? Girls.”

Amanda Namayi