Story from the field: "Towards greener food systems in Mozambique"

Maral: Your role focuses on both energy access and food systems. Could you tell us more about the link between those two?

Egide: Energy access affects every aspect of the food system value chain, from production to transformation and consumption. The interaction between energy and food systems has become increasingly important for WFP.

For this purpose, I am supporting WFP Mozambique in making sure that clean energy access is incorporated in their climate change adaptive food systems actions in order to empower smallholder farmers to increase quality and quantity of their food production, as well as improve food processing and transformation to add value and reduce food waste.

A concrete example is the installation of low-cost solar irrigation systems that support vulnerable smallholder farmers living in drought-prone areas to diversify their production and to be able to increase harvests.

Maral: How have the energy interventions you have been involved in impacted the local communities and farmers?

Egide: Climate resilience activities of WFP Mozambique have been expanding over the past few years, and I am very happy to be part of these efforts made by WFP, the Government of Mozambique and partners in setting up sustainable and climate change adaptive food systems.

Since I joined WFP Mozambique, I have seen vulnerable smallholder farmers expanding their production in a sustainable manner with a direct and substantial impact on their families’ livelihoods. I am always happy to see a farmer smiling while looking at their field and feel that I have contributed to making that happen.

Productive uses of energy have a positive impact on the communities served. The Rapid Rural transformation hub in Mecufi District, Cabo Delgado province, proved that access to clean energy can improve rural communities’ livelihoods through the integrated approach of the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem nexus.

The hub serves as a one stop landing spot where people can go to do business, learn, have access to internet and benefit from services to which they had no access before.

Maral: What would you say are the biggest challenges in your work?

Egide: My work involves working with vulnerable communities affected by extreme weather events or conflicts, and this often means starting from building trust to engage them in new programmes and interventions and identify their needs. Also, the deteriorating global situation has led to decreased funding for development contexts. Moreover, due to the short lifespan of funding allocations, it is highly challenging to address the root causes of food insecurity and design and implement sustainable interventions. We are under pressure to do more with less resources and do so in a short timeframe. Finally, data-driven decision-making is key for designing interventions but in some cases, data is not available or not disaggregated; this may lead to inadequate decision-making and inefficient resource allocation which directly or indirectly affect the various projects and its participants.

Maral: You have now been deployed for almost a year. What are some experiences and lessons learned that you would like to share with others going to the field?

Egide: When joining a new agency and starting a new deployment, it is crucial to make sure that you learn fast about the systems and processes and become a collaborative team member. It is also important to consider the actual priorities within the unit or department hosting you.

When I joined WFP Mozambique, I discovered that given my background, I could also contribute to water resources management, nature-based solutions, environmental and social risk screening. I consider being involved in more than one area a true success.

Maral: Is there anything else you would like to share from your deployment in Mozambique?

Egide: The agricultural sector represents one quarter of the GDP and is a major source of employment for over 70% of the population in Mozambique. The agricultural sector is clearly a drive for the country’s development hence it is imperative to spread climate change adaptive food systems in order to support smallholder farmers to build their climate resilience and enhance their livelihood.

To do so, local knowledge needs to be taken into consideration and combined with science-based data during project design and implementation. I am very proud to be part of the above process and I am sure this experience will remain with me for long.