The International Fund for Agricultural Development of the United Nations (IFAD) announced support for a new programme to increase incomes, improve food and nutrition security and build the resilience of at least 902,500 rural Mozambican farmers, in one of the African countries most affected by climate change.
In Mozambique, 70 percent of the population live in rural areas and are highly vulnerable to the impacts of the climate change. The country is the third most affected in Africa, with climate change impacting 58 percent of the population. The effects on the agriculture sector were evident in 2019 when the country was hit by the tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares of cropland in central and northern Mozambique.
At the same time, the country’s demand for agricultural products is expanding. But Mozambique continues to depend on food imports to satisfy its domestic needs, with food accounting for 29 percent of the country’s import bill.
This US$72.5 million programme aims to improve the resilience and livelihoods of rural producers. At least half of the beneficiaries of the programme will be women and 30 percent will be young people. It will contribute to livelihood development, food security and resilience, critical areas for Mozambique in achieving several Sustainable Development Goals, including no poverty, zero hunger and gender equality (SDGs 1, 2 and 5).
Funding includes an $8.4 million loan and $33.6 million grant from IFAD. In addition, the Government of Mozambique is providing $4.9 million, with a further $5.6 million contributed by beneficiaries themselves and significant co-financing from other development partners.
The programme will first focus on selected horticulture commodities, red meat (cattle and goats), poultry, cassava and legumes, all of which are sensitive to climate change. In order to facilitate this, the programme will also invest in irrigation infrastructure and technologies. It will increase market access of small-scale farmers by linking them to different actors in the target value chains.
Since 1983, IFAD has invested more than $386.47 million in 15 rural development programmes and projects in Mozambique worth a total of almost $585 million. These interventions have directly benefited 2,391,789 rural families.
Original source: IFAD
Published on 10 February 2020
