Growing interest by the development community in stimulating transformation throughout the agri-food system in Africa implies a more complex role for the region’s governments. Such roles include not only creating an enabling environment for the private sector but re-orienting public expenditures, resolving coordination failures, and regulating food safety. This webinar will draw on case studies from Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia to show how electoral incentives, overlapping ministerial mandates, and relations between central and local authorities structure the ability of governments to fulfill these roles in the food system. In doing so, the webinar will summarize research findings relevant to different policy domains of the food system, including fertilizer subsidies, agricultural extension services, land governance, and urban informal food trade.