Project Summary
The Circular Food Systems in Africa (CFS) project, funded by the Australian government through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), is a transformative initiative focused on integrating irrigation, livestock, and dryland agricultural production to establish climate-smart, circular food systems in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. By leveraging smallholder irrigation schemes as a foundation, the project aims to foster sustainable resource use, enhance local livelihoods, and increase resilience to climate change.
Through co-designed solutions with local stakeholders, the project prioritizes gender equality and youth inclusion, creating opportunities for women and young people in small and medium enterprises (SMMEs). It focuses on reducing resource consumption, optimizing value chains, and scaling sustainable practices through policy reform and innovative financing mechanisms.
Key outcomes include improved food security, economic growth, and climate resilience, demonstrating how circular food systems can decouple social and economic benefits from environmental costs. By bridging scientific research and practical implementation, the CFS project is setting a new benchmark for sustainable food systems in Africa.
Working in at least 5 localities in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, the project aims to use agricultural innovation platforms to build a mutual understanding of the basics of circularity (including creating local jobs for women and other underserved groups in value-adding locally) and facilitate the integration and inclusive co-design of local small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and associated value chains.
Project Objectives
- To identify conditions for the successful establishment of circular food systems (centred on irrigation schemes serving smallholder farming communities).
- To identify approaches to improve gender equality and social inclusion in circular food systems (CFS) and local food systems, and the conditions that improve food security and livelihoods.
- To investigate whether CFS result in decoupling resource use from increasing socio-economic benefit and enable more resilient communities and low-emission agriculture.
Intended Outcomes:
- Evidence base for CFS: Develop a stronger evidence base on how CFS interventions use natural resources (particularly water and land) more productively and create sustainable local food systems and resilient rural communities in a changing climate.
- Decoupling of growth and resource use: Develop a stronger evidence base on how CFS interventions support decoupling of growth in social and economic benefits (including local livelihood opportunities for women and youth) from the consumption of natural resources.
- Scaling out: Develop a stronger evidence base on how CFS interventions can be self-sustaining, scale out autonomously, and be scaled out through policy reform at district, provincial, and national scales.
- Gender: Improve leadership and decision-making of women, youth, and other underserved groups, promoting their access to economic assets and opportunities.
Partners
Australian National University; Ardhi University; Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network; International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics; University of Eduardo Mondlane; National Institute of Irrigation
MEDIA
PUBLICATION
Institutions influencing plot access and intergenerational land transfer: Policy insights from a smallholder irrigation scheme in Zimbabwe (Article)
Opportunities for Transitioning to Circular Food Systems in Tanzania (Policy Brief_2025)
Opportunities for Transitioning to Circular Food Systems in Zimbabwe (Policy Brief_2025)
Opportunities for Transitioning to Circular Food Systems in Mozambique (Policy Brief_2025)
Women, youth, and tail-end users: improving the livelihoods of disadvantaged irrigators in southern Africa (Article)
Agroecology and circular food systems: Decoupling natural resource use from rural development in sub-Saharan Africa? (Article)
Investment Priorities for Transforming Climate Resilience and Mitigation in Sub Sahara Africa Farming Systems (Policy Brief)
Transitioning to Climate-Resilient Farming Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (Policy Brief)
International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol 36, No sup1
International Journal of Water Resources Development: Vol 33, No 5.
REPORTS
Agri-MSMEs Business Survey Report (August 2024)
Business Development ToT report _TANZANIA (Sept_2024)
Business Development ToT Workshop Report Zimbabwe (Sep 2024)
Validation Meeting: Policy Review and Gap Analysis in Zimbabwe (June 2024)
Validation Meeting: Policy Review and Gap Analysis in Tanzania (June 2024)
Validation Meeting: Policy Review and Gap Analysis in Mozambique (June 2024)
The Circular Food Systems in Africa project (WAC/2023/111) is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR)
