PROMOVE Agribiz and PRODAI

Background

Mozambique is highly vulnerable to climate change, facing recurrent cyclones, floods, and droughts that severely impact food security and rural livelihoods. Agriculture employs the majority of the population, yet the sector is predominantly rain-fed and characterized by low productivity, degraded soils, and limited access to resilient production systems. These vulnerabilities threaten both national food security and the long-term sustainability of natural resources.

The Government of Mozambique has recognized these challenges in its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC, 2021), which prioritizes climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable forest management, and restoration of degraded lands as central adaptation and mitigation strategies. Similarly, the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) highlights the need to reduce the vulnerability of rural communities through diversification of livelihoods, while the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) emphasizes the importance of integrated landscape approaches to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services.

A major gap in the current food system is the limited adoption of practices that simultaneously enhance productivity, resilience, and ecosystem services. Farmers often face declining soil fertility, erratic rainfall, and loss of forest cover, while lacking access to knowledge, inputs, and markets that would allow them to transition towards sustainable agrifood systems. At the same time, opportunities for linking agriculture to climate finance — for example, through carbon markets — remain underdeveloped, constraining the country’s ability to mobilize resources for scaling climate action.

The agroforestry component of the FAO projects PROMOVE Agribiz and PRODAI responds directly to these needs by promoting climate-resilient agroforestry systems in smallholder farming landscapes. By integrating trees with food and cash crops, these systems improve soil health, enhance water retention, diversify farmer incomes, and increase resilience to climate shocks. They also contribute to Mozambique’s NDC mitigation goals by sequestering carbon and reducing pressure on natural forests. Importantly, the intervention supports national priorities by strengthening climate-smart value chains and it is a pilot in the country for participation in voluntary carbon markets, thereby addressing both the adaptation and financing gaps in the food and agriculture sector.

Through these efforts, the projects provide a replicable model of how integrated agrifood practices can deliver on multiple objectives: improving food security, restoring ecosystems, enhancing resilience, and advancing Mozambique’s commitments under the NDC, NAP, and NBSAP.

Activities

The agroforestry component of the PROMOVE Agribiz and PRODAI programmes is led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), local governments, research institutions, and farmer organizations. The initiative is designed to strengthen climate-resilient food systems by integrating agroforestry practices into smallholder farming landscapes, while also building an enabling environment for sustainable value chains and climate finance.

Key activities include:

• Capacity building and training: Farmers, extension officers, and community-based organizations receive training in climate-resilient agroforestry practices, including tree–crop combinations, soil and water conservation techniques, nurseries management, seedlings production and and climate-smart land management. Special attention is given to promoting farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange and supporting women and youth as agents of change.
• Establishment of demonstration plots: On-farm pilot plots are established across target provinces to showcase integrated production systems that combine staple crops (such as maize and cassava) with fruit and timber trees. These serve as living classrooms where farmers can see the productivity, resilience, and income benefits of agroforestry in practice.
• Provision of inputs and technical assistance: The programme supports farmers with inputs, technical assistance, and technical advice to facilitate the adoption of agroforestry. Continuous monitoring and coaching ensure that farmers are able to adapt practices to their local conditions.
• Policy and institutional support: At national level, the initiative works with government counterparts to integrate agroforestry into agricultural and climate policies, contributing directly to NDC, NAP, and NBSAP implementation. A particular focus is placed on developing the legal and regulatory framework for voluntary carbon markets, enabling Mozambique to access new sources of climate finance for scaling sustainable agrifood practices.
• Knowledge generation and dissemination: Data is collected on the impacts of agroforestry systems on productivity, resilience, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. Lessons learned are shared through technical reports, training manuals, and national workshops, ensuring that evidence informs both practice and policy. The interventions target multiple parts of the food system, including crops, land use, and natural resource management, while also contributing to improved nutrition outcomes through diversified food production and diets. By combining field-level interventions with value chain development and policy support, the programme offers an integrated model that advances food security, climate resilience, and low-emission development simultaneously.

Impact

The agroforestry component directly supports the implementation of Mozambique’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC, 2021), National Adaptation Plan (NAP), and National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) by advancing climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable forest management, and ecosystem restoration.

Advancing adaptation and mitigation targets: By integrating trees into farming systems, the project enhances soil fertility, water retention, and microclimate regulation, increasing farmers’ resilience to droughts, floods, and cyclones — priority adaptation measures in the NAP. At the same time, expanded tree cover contributes to carbon sequestration and reduced deforestation, thereby supporting NDC mitigation goals.

Scaling climate-smart agriculture: The programme promotes diversified agroforestry systems that combine staple and cash crops with fruit and timber trees. These climate-smart practices are disseminated through training, demonstration plots, and extension services, enabling large numbers of smallholder farmers to adopt low-emission and resilient farming systems, in line with the NDC’s agriculture sector priorities.

Supporting biodiversity restoration and sustainable land use: Agroforestry interventions restore degraded lands, improve habitat connectivity, and conserve agrobiodiversity. This aligns with NBSAP objectives to safeguard biodiversity while sustaining ecosystem services that underpin food security.

Strengthening policy integration and institutional capacity: At national level, the project works with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other stakeholders to integrate agroforestry into policy frameworks and climate strategies. In particular, it supports the development of the legal and regulatory framework for voluntary carbon markets, which strengthens institutional capacity to mobilize climate finance for scaling NDC and NAP implementation.