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Water is essential for food systems, yet this precious resource is under threat. For rural communities to flourish, they must sustainably access and manage water
Renewable energy - IFAD
Renewable energy
© IFAD/Carlos Sanchez
About 760 million people around the world still live without electricity, most of them in rural areas. More than three quarters of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Just like everyone else, small-scale farmers need energy to survive – from cooking their food and lighting their homes to growing, processing and storing their produce.
A lack of electricity makes agriculture less productive and increases post-harvest losses, preventing the effective processing and storage of crops. This reduces farmers’ incomes and increases the risk of food insecurity.
Moreover, many farmers are forced to rely on burning biomass such as wood, charcoal, agricultural waste and animal dung to meet energy needs, contributing to environmental degradation and climate change. Where they do have access to electricity, they are often limited to non-renewable sources such as diesel generators.
These practices aren’t just bad for the environment – they come with health risks, including respiratory diseases and eye infections. And women, who are often responsible for collecting fuel and cooking for the family, are disproportionately affected.
At the same time, climate change is making rural people’s need for energy more acute. For example, farmers need energy to irrigate their land in areas where rain-fed agriculture can no longer produce reliable yields. Without clean energy sources, they often have no choice but to use polluting diesel-powered pumps.
A global transition to renewable energy is essential – and rural people must not be left behind.
Reliable access to clean, renewable energy can bring transformative benefits to rural communities. It can increase agricultural productivity, boost livelihoods and improve public health, all while mitigating climate change and driving climate adaptation.
What IFAD does
By integrating renewable energy technologies into small-scale agriculture and increasing farmers’ access to them, IFAD is improving production, processing and post-harvest handling while supporting the decarbonization of food systems.
We invest in and promote renewable energy in food processing and post-harvest storage, thus contributing to reducing food losses.
We support farmers in installing, operating and maintaining solar-powered irrigation systems to boost production without reliance on water pumps powered by polluting fossil fuels.
We support farmers in processing agricultural and animal waste to produce both compost and cleaner biogas. This enables them to recycle nutrients and reduce methane emissions, while cooking with fuel that is comparatively less harmful to their health.
We design effective incentives and de-risk investment through innovative finance support mechanisms. This encourages the private sector to support renewable energy technologies for small-scale farmers.
By using blended finance approaches, we pilot, test and scale renewable energy technologies and channel adaptation finance directly to rural people, encouraging their use of renewables on the farm and in the home.
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