Mbukiso Fakudze is a speaker at the AFS Forum 2026
BY: NOSIPHO MKHIZE | JOURNALIST
MBABANE — Young Liswati agricultural practitioner and agripreneur Mbukiso Fakudze is a speaker at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026, placing Eswatini’s youth agrifood voice on one of the continent’s biggest platforms for agriculture, investment and food systems transformation.
The Forum will take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from August 31 to September 4, 2026, under the theme “Investing in Agri-Food Systems: Nourishing Nations, Growing Jobs, Building Resilience.”
Now marking its 20th anniversary, the Africa Food Systems Forum is expected to bring together more than 5,000 stakeholders from over 50 countries and more than 200 speakers, including policymakers, farmers, investors, researchers, businesses, development organisations, women and young people.
Fakudze is described as an Agricultural Extension Officer, agripreneur and youth advocate for sustainable food systems.
His appearance comes after steadily building a presence in continental youth and agriculture platforms.
Recent reporting identified Fakudze as a University of Eswatini agricultural extension student from Luyengo Campus and founder of Sisekelo Semphilo Farms. In November 2025, he represented Eswatini during a Youth in Agrifood Performance Index report writeshop in Lusaka, Zambia.
His continental involvement expanded further in July 2026 when he participated in the process surrounding the launch of the Youth in Agrifood Systems Performance Index, YAPI, during Africa Agriculture Science Week in Abuja, Nigeria.
YAPI seeks to measure whether young people are genuinely benefiting from food systems through access to skills and technology, productive resources, economic opportunities, policy participation and resilience.
Fakudze at the KING MSWATINI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
That experience gives Fakudze’s participation in Kigali particular relevance at a time when African governments are under pressure to move beyond simply encouraging young people to enter agriculture and instead create conditions in which they can build profitable enterprises and sustainable livelihoods.
The issue is especially important for Eswatini.
World Bank documentation based on the 2023 Labour Force Survey estimates unemployment among young people aged 18 to 35 at about 49%, while approximately 190,000 young people are neither employed nor in education or training. Around 25,000 young people enter the labour market annually against roughly 1,000 formal jobs being created, according to the research brief.
At the same time, the country continues to face food production and investment gaps.
FAO’s 2026 Hand-in-Hand investment profile estimates domestic maize demand at around 140,000 tonnes annually, compared with local supply of approximately 75,000 tonnes. The profile also identifies about R1.37 billion in potential agrifood investments, alongside an estimated R1.022 billion investment gap.
This creates a difficult but important national question: can agriculture help solve both Eswatini’s food production challenge and its youth employment crisis?
That conversation is likely to feature strongly in Kigali as Africa begins implementing the Kampala CAADP Declaration for 2026–2035, which seeks, among other objectives, to increase agrifood production, mobilise investment and empower at least 30% of young people in agrifood value chains by 2035.
For Fakudze, therefore, the value of the Africa Food Systems Forum will extend beyond appearing on an international platform.
The bigger opportunity lies in using that platform to highlight the realities facing young agricultural entrepreneurs at home, particularly access to finance, land, technology, markets and productive infrastructure.
And when the Forum ends, the real test will be whether the ideas, networks and opportunities developed in Kigali can translate into businesses, investment, jobs and stronger food systems back home.
