The global discourse on food systems has reached a critical inflexion point. As South Africa holds the G20 Presidency in 2025 under the theme ‘Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability’, the focus is on building resilient systems that mitigate the effects of climate change and deep-seated inequality.

Central to the G20’s agenda were the Agriculture Working Group, the Food Security Task Force and the ministerial meetings, which convened in Cape Town from 14 to 19 September this year. As a leading African research-intensive institution, the University of Pretoria (UP) made a significant contribution to these proceedings by hosting three high-impact partnership events alongside the ministerial gathering.

UP’s contribution, primarily channelled through its leadership of the African Research Universities Alliance Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems, highlighted the importance of African early-career researcher capacity development for continental transformation. This strategic focus ensures that future solutions are not only scientifically sound but also locally relevant and socially engaged. Two of the partnership events focused on nurturing the human capital that is necessary for a systemic shift in food and agricultural education and research.

Feed, Protect, Care (FPC) Global Collaborative PhD Platform

The third training programme of the UP-University of Montpellier FPC Global Collaborative PhD Platform was officially launched by the two universities on 8 September this year. The platform aims to accelerate innovation and equip the next generation of scholars to deliver real-world impact by moving beyond research silos. The field school brought together 51 PhD students from 13 universities around the world, representing 16 nationalities. Professor Frans Swanepoel, the UP platform lead, said that with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals deadline fast approaching, transformational research is essential for systems change in institutions, values, behaviours and relationships. The event, held in Cape Town, included a G20 contextualisation session, the Food Imbizo and site visits to the Cape Town Market and Steenbras Dam waterworks.

UKUDLA Summer School

The official launch of the UKUDLA Summer School coincided with the G20 meetings. UKUDLA (isiXhosa/isiZulu for “food”) is the African-German Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems and Applied Agricultural and Food Data Science. UP is hosting and coordinating the Graduate Centre. The event, held on 16 September at the Homecoming Centre in District Six, officially launched the initiative, which includes UP, the University of the Western Cape, the University of Mpumalanga, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Malawi) and the University of Hohenheim (Germany).

UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Francis Petersen spoke at the event, noting that the initiative directly supports UP’s mission to train and empower the next generation of scholars. He emphasised that Africa needs to “exponentially increase the number of doctoral and postdoctoral researchers” who can lead policy development for sustainable systems, and that “partnering with the Global North is essential to boost supervisory and co-supervisory capacity”. The summer school, which also coincided with the 100^th anniversary of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) – one of its primary funders – provided an intensive, immersive learning experience for master’s, PhD and postdoctoral fellows, focusing on topics like systems thinking, stakeholder engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Strategic policy influence: The SARI Roundtable

Along with the ministerial meetings, UP co-hosted the high-level Strengthening Agricultural Research and Innovation (SARI) roundtable on 17 September. The half-day event served as a critical conversation from which to gain strategic leverage to expand the initiative nationally. UP, the Agricultural Research Council and the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) have been collaborating on SARI since 2021 to translate the recommendations of the Academy of Science of South Africa’s Consensus Study on Agricultural Education and Training into on-the-ground results.

The discussion focused on establishing a systems-oriented human capital framework for an adapted land grant model in South Africa. This model is an integrated human capital and knowledge system that drives farmer-led sector development, innovation and uptake of new approaches for a responsive and transformative food system. SARI lead Prof Swanepoel presented the strategic context, drawing on successful international examples: the US, which created one of the most sophisticated agricultural sectors, and India, whose State Agricultural University system lifted millions out of poverty. The SARI pilot, hosted by UMP in Mpumalanga, operationalises this adapted model by facilitating the multi-level, multi-actor Rural Innovation Hub that integrates research, education, training and extension to drive job creation and decrease rural poverty.

A commitment to ubuntu and transformative impact

UP’s leadership in these G20-aligned events establishes its contribution to the global dialogue on sustainable food systems, highlighting its role in transforming African higher education. The events affirmed that achieving food security requires a vision that goes beyond merely producing enough food; it must ensure affordable access to nutritious food for all.

The week’s activities highlighted several key outcomes for sustaining this momentum:

• Support for smallholder farmers: Initiatives like UKUDLA focus on providing extension support through mobile services, apps and artificial intelligence, enabling greater precision agriculture and a transition to resilient crops. The SARI model directly supports farmer-led innovation across provinces.
• Building regional and continental networks: The collaborative platforms, from FPC’s 16 nationalities to UKUDLA’s African-German partnership, directly foster the regional and continental connections necessary to scale solutions across Africa.
• Championing the ubuntu philosophy: This principle, meaning “I am because we are”, is embodied by the collaborative nature of the UKUDLA, FPC and SARI initiatives, which collectively emphasise that Africa’s prosperity is inherently linked to the well-being of everybody on the continent.

UP’s leading efforts help ensure that while the G20 sets the global policy direction, the necessary human capital and systems-level innovations are being built on the ground, making a meaningful, positive impact in society and living up to the institution’s ethos, “make today matter”.