Cabo Verde’s agriculture sector faces significant challenges due to its arid climate, fragile ecosystems, and limited natural resources. However, with almost 10% of its landmass available for farming and livestock rearing, the country has the potential to increase agricultural productivity and reduce its food trade deficit. To unlock this potential, Cabo Verde should prioritize irrigation investments, distribution optimization, and niche crop diversification, leveraging inherent salinity tolerance varieties and competitive advantages globally.
The Watershed Management and Agriculture Support Project, funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, aimed to address these constraints by improving natural resource management, including sustainable use of soil and water resources, and building capacity to support the development and implementation of community-based watershed management plans. The project also included the provision of water from reservoirs to individual plots of land through well-drilling and the culverts and tubes, and the establishment of demonstration farms, training for both farmers and Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries employees, development and distribution of improved varieties of fruits and vegetables, quality control centers to enforce standards for agricultural products, construction and operation of packing sheds, and an inspection and certification center on Santo Antão.
FAO’s assistance to Cabo Verde is shaped by the 2018-2022 Country Programming Framework, which focuses on strengthening governance of food and nutrition security, increasing working population’s income through transformation and growth in key economic sectors, and developing and implementing integrated and innovative approaches for sustainable and participatory natural resource management. FAO has supported more than 40 diverse projects, including emergency assistance, with a focus on food and nutrition security, agricultural productivity, and value chain development.
To further enhance agricultural productivity and diversification, Cabo Verde should explore vertical techniques like hydroponics backed by renewable desalination techniques, fostering rural cooperatives participation for small farms consolidation, and enhancing hospitality sectors linkage targeting tourism spend capture. These strategies can help address the country’s food trade deficit holistically over the long term through responsible productivity unlocking
