Renewable energy solutions for agri-food crucial for growth – Muhammed Wakil

Nigeria’s agri-food sector remains the backbone of its economy, employing half of the national workforce. However, a stark infrastructure disparity persists: this vital sector receives just two percent of the nation’s electricity, a primary driver behind the 40 percent post-harvest losses that threaten Nigeria’s food security.

To address this, a three-year strategic collaboration between the Mastercard Foundation and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet has introduced the Energizing Women and Youth in Agri-Food Systems (EWAS) Program. This initiative moves beyond traditional aid by treating renewable energy as a foundational productive asset for industrialisation.

MUHAMMED WAKIL, the country delivery lead in Nigeria for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, spoke with JOSEPHINE OKOJIE-OKEIYI about the initiative, how it fits into the country’s food sovereignty agenda and it plans to create 17,000 jobs in Nigeria and Ethiopia for mostly women.

Can you tell us about the EWAS Programme and how it fits into Nigeria’s 2026 food sovereignty agenda?

The Energizing Women and Youth in Agri-Food Systems (EWAS) programme responds to a simple but persistent reality in Nigeria’s agricultural sector: energy constraints continue to limit productivity, value addition, and incomes, particularly for women and young people.

EWAS is an initiative of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, and it focuses on deploying clean, affordable energy directly into agri-food value chains such as irrigation, processing, cold storage, milling, and aggregation.

The programme was launched first in Nigeria and Ethiopia, given the scale of their youth populations, the central role of women in agriculture, and the opportunity to use clean energy to unlock systemic change.

As Nigeria sharpens its focus on food sovereignty, this approach aligns closely with national priorities around domestic production, reduced post-harvest losses, and stronger local value chains.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has consistently highlighted post-harvest losses and weak value addition as major constraints to food self-sufficiency. Limited energy access is also recognised as a binding constraint to agro-processing and rural productivity.

By enabling dry-season farming, local processing, and better storage, EWAS acts as an enabling platform, translating national policy ambition on food sovereignty into practical outcomes on the ground that support livelihoods.

The EWAS initiative aims to create 17,000 jobs, especially for young women in Nigeria and Ethiopia. What strategies are in place to ensure these jobs are sustainable and truly gender-inclusive?

The 17,000 jobs target is anchored in economic activities that can endure beyond the programme lifecycle. This focus is especially important in Nigeria, where recent labour force data shows that youth unemployment remains a challenge, with over 80 million Nigerian youth unemployed, and women facing higher barriers to stable employment than men, reflecting a wider gender gap in economic opportunity.

Against this backdrop, EWAS is designed to move beyond short-term interventions by embedding jobs within viable agri-food value chains such as fisheries, horticulture, poultry, and staple crop processing.

These jobs are directly linked to productive use of energy technologies, including solar cold storage, milling, irrigation, and processing equipment, which increase productivity, reduce losses, and generate recurring income for enterprises.

EWAS applies a structured gender framework that moves young women from manual, low-paid roles into ownership, management, and decision-making positions.

This is reinforced through targeted financing mechanisms that address barriers women face, such as a lack of collateral or credit history, and through partnerships that incentivise SMEs to actively recruit, train, and promote young women.

Safeguarding standards, gender-sensitive training, and clear participation targets ensure that women are not only reached but can operate safely, build assets, and sustain profitable enterprises over time. The result is job creation that is not only inclusive, but resilient and economically meaningful.

How will solar-powered irrigation and cold storage be rolled out across key value chains like poultry, horticulture, and milling, and what metrics will you use to measure success?

The rollout is designed to start from the realities farmers and processors face daily, rather than from an abstract infrastructure plan. In poultry, many small producers still lack reliable energy for feed processing and cooling, driving up costs and losses.

Solar-powered freezers and cold storage are deployed at enterprise and community levels to reduce spoilage, extend operating hours, and stabilise supply. In milling, clean energy–powered mills replace diesel systems, lowering operating costs and making local processing more reliable, with training and maintenance support built in to ensure sustained use.

In horticulture, post-harvest losses remain one of the costliest inefficiencies. Nigeria loses around NGN 3.5 trillion annually to post-harvest losses, particularly in fruits and vegetables. Solar-powered cold rooms at aggregation points and irrigation at the farm level help extend shelf life, enable dry-season production, and give farmers greater control over when and where they sell.

Success is measured by real outcomes, reduced post-harvest losses, higher incomes, productivity gains, and continued use of equipment over time, rather than installations alone.

The Productive Use Financing Facility (PUFF) provides results-based subsidies and capacity-building grants for SMEs. How will you select and support these SMEs to maximize adoption of green technologies?

SMEs supported through the Productive Use Financing Facility (PUFF) are selected based on their ability to deliver at scale within agri-food value chains and to serve women and youth as core customers, not as an afterthought.

Preference is given to enterprises with proven or near-commercial business models supplying technologies such as solar irrigation, cold storage, milling, and processing equipment, and with the capacity to provide after-sales service and maintenance.

Support goes beyond financing alone. Results-based subsidies lower the upfront cost of deploying green technologies, while capacity-building grants help SMEs strengthen their business models, supply chains, and market reach.

Technical assistance is also provided to help enterprises integrate gender-inclusive practices, from customer targeting to workforce development.

By tying financing to verified delivery and sustained use, PUFF ensures that adoption is real and durable, while helping SMEs grow into commercially viable providers of clean energy solutions for agriculture.

What lessons have you learned from other clean energy programs in Nigeria?

One clear lesson is that energy access alone does not create lasting jobs. Previous initiatives showed that employment outcomes improve significantly when energy is directly linked to productive activity.

EWAS builds on this by focusing squarely on productive use, ensuring energy powered irrigation, processing, storage, and value addition where income gains are measurable.

Another lesson is that financing must reflect women’s realities. High upfront costs and rigid repayment structures limit adoption even when technology is an enabler. EWAS responds with results-based subsidies, flexible payment models, and micro-credit.

Lastly, experience has shown that training and after-sales support are essential. Without them, adoption declines quickly. EWAS embeds both to ensure technologies are used effectively and sustainably.

How is the Alliance working with federal and state governments, as well as private sector partners, to align EWAS with existing policies on energy access and agricultural development?

Alignment with government policy is central to how EWAS is designed and delivered. The programme complements the country’s priorities on food sovereignty, climate-smart agriculture, and productive use of energy, ensuring that clean energy investments directly support agricultural outcomes rather than operating in parallel.

Engagement at both federal and state levels helps align interventions with priority value chains, local development plans, and existing electrification efforts.

At the same time, EWAS leverages private sector delivery as the primary engine of scale. Clean energy companies, agri-businesses, and equipment suppliers deploy solutions on commercial terms, supported by catalytic finance that lowers risk and improves affordability.

By aligning public policy, private sector incentives, philanthropic capital and development finance, the programme avoids duplication and creates a coherent pathway from policy ambition to on-the-ground impact.

In what ways can the new tax reforms, for example, VAT credits, zero-rating essential goods be leveraged to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in agri-food processing?

Fiscal reforms such as VAT credits and zero-rating essential goods can play a powerful role in accelerating renewable energy adoption in agri-food processing.

By reducing the upfront cost of equipment like solar panels, cold storage units, irrigation pumps, and milling systems, these reforms improve affordability for SMEs and farmer-led enterprises, particularly those run by women and youth.

Beyond lowering costs, tax incentives improve cash flow for clean energy and agri-processing businesses, allowing them to scale faster and reinvest in expansion.

Clear and consistent tax treatment also reduces market uncertainty, improving project economics and encouraging private investment in local manufacturing, assembly, and distribution of clean energy technologies.

When combined with targeted programme support, fiscal policy becomes a multiplier that accelerates deployment and strengthens domestic value chains.

What are the biggest obstacles you anticipate in scaling renewable energy solutions for agri-food SMEs, and how do you plan to overcome them?

Affordability remains the most immediate challenge. Many SMEs recognise the value of renewable energy but struggle with upfront costs. This is addressed through blended finance, results-based subsidies, and flexible payment models that turn clean energy into a viable business decision.

Trust and capability are also critical. Past experiences with unreliable equipment make some entrepreneurs cautious. Working through trusted partners, pairing deployment with hands-on training, and ensuring maintenance support helps build confidence. Ultimately, renewable energy only scales when it improves incomes.

By linking energy directly to processing, storage, and market access, productivity gains translate into sustained livelihood improvements.

Looking beyond the three-year timeframe, how do you envision the EWAS model evolving to support Nigeria’s long-term green industrialisation?

Beyond the initial three-year implementation period, EWAS is designed to shift from programme-led deployment to market-led scale. The long-term goal is for renewable energy to become the default power source for agri-processing, storage, and irrigation, embedded naturally within Nigeria’s agri-food and light industrial sectors.

As demand grows, the focus increasingly turns to strengthening local supply chains, including local assembly and manufacturing of productive-use energy technologies.

This supports domestic industrial capacity while creating green jobs. Over time, the emphasis also moves from supporting individual enterprises to building a skilled workforce and leadership pipeline of women and youth within clean energy and agri-processing companies.

By proving commercial viability and aligning with policy, the model helps crowd in private capital and positions renewable-powered agri-processing as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s long-term green industrialisation.