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Agricultural situation in Mozambique

Historically Mozambique is a country at high-risk due to climate change, affected by increasingly unpredictable rainfall and droughts, as well as abnormal or extreme weather events such as cyclones. Agriculture in Mozambique is dominated by smallholder farmers and represents an important area of activity for the economy. It is the basis of food security for 80% of the population.

Climate shocks have significant implications for smallholder productivity, especially since most farmers practice rain-fed agriculture and are unprepared for such climate change.

The agricultural sector in Mozambique still faces many challenges, including a lack of adequate CSA solutions in terms of access to inputs, services and new technologies. This results in low productivity and product quality, as well as limited resilience against climate change and extreme weather events.

Another challenge lies in the limited integration of the value chain, as most smallholder farmers are located in more remote areas with limited infrastructure, poor production marketing experience and a lack of market information and bargaining power.

Women are the key to family nutrition and play a central role in smallholder farming in Mozambique. However, they often lack access to and control over money, land, credit, and livestock, and are under-represented in farmers' organisations. They also have less access to extension services, markets and the benefits of agricultural research and development.

Considering all these constraints associated with the great potential for agricultural production and market integration in Mozambique's central provinces, the FAR Programme was designed to address the lack of capacity and ability to manage the risk associated with climate change, and to help farmers deal with risks and shocks.

As part of the results strategy for Sweden's international development cooperation with Mozambique (2015-2020), which emphasises the need for a greater focus on the impacts of climate change, particularly with regards to sustainable food security through climate-smart agriculture, the Swedish Embassy financed the FAR Programme. The programme was implemented by Swisscontact over 3 years, from November 2017 to December 2020.