My first adventures in Africa begin...

Kicking off my first ever trip in Africa in the thriving coastal region of Dar Es Salaam.

I've arrived in Dar ahead of a meeting of the Africa Food Systems Forum which brings together Africa leaders, NGO's, Private investors and interested delegates from around the world to discuss the transformation of African food systems.

I'm here with 14 other ambassadors as part of the Next Gen Agricultural Impact Network (NGIN) a platform which brings together young agri leaders from around the world to develop our leadership skills and to raise our voice at the decision making table.

I've met amazing individuals from Rwanda, Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Bolivia, Argentina and Nepal, to name but a few and all come from  a variety of backgrounds and at different stages of life but all passionate about the future of sustainable agriculture. 

The first part of my trip has been taking part in policy workshops, identifying challenges around food security, climate change, female empowerment, etc in our respective countries and coming up with a call to action of what needs to be done to build collaborative action to address these barriers.

We have also been taking part in farm visits with our first adventure taking us via ferry to Zanzibar, to meet with some of the seaweed farmers who supply Seaweed Cafe - a food business which adds value to seaweed by turning it into food products such as gels, hot sauces and porridge.

Their whole ethos is around trying to build local production, demand and consumption of seaweed based products and retain the value and nutritional benefits for people living in Tanzania and other parts of Africa.

Currently 99% of seaweed produced in Tanzania is exported abroad and we were told that two of the biggest challenges facing Tanzanian seaweed farmers - of which there are 25,000 - are rising sea temperatures due to climate change and unfair practices by ‘middle men’, who control the market and price, with very little money returning to the farm gate.

Seaweed Cafe works with around 130 women who pick 17 tonnes of seaweed annually and is working to ensure their seaweed producers receive a fairer price and that this higher value is retained here in Tanzania.