Sustainable food security achievable

A three-day food security conference opened in Kigali yesterday to devise means of improving livelihoods.  Food security is critical in the socio-economic transformation of Rwanda and achieving the Vision 2020 agenda.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A three-day food security conference opened in Kigali yesterday to devise means of improving livelihoods.  Food security is critical in the socio-economic transformation of Rwanda and achieving the Vision 2020 agenda.Any efforts aimed at looking for ways to support positive progress in rural agricultural development is a clear path toward ensuring food security and achieving the country’s vision.The conference is taking a holistic approach toward ensuring that the issue of food security is comprehensively analysed by all the stakeholders in the food security chain.However, to achieve food security, the stakeholders should put emphasis on the smallholder farmers who comprise the biggest percentage of the agricultural sector. With food security in the households, it means that the bigger and the ultimate goal for sustainability of food security is achievable.It also calls for sustained value addition at the subsistence level and wooing investors to agricultural value addition chain.Already government is doing a lot in terms of boosting the produce through provision of fertilisers and helping farmers to use modern methods of farming. Given the importance of food security, it is crucial that the outcome of the conference offers viable solutions to the issue of ensuring sustainable food security in Rwanda and the region in general. All stakeholders, right from the farmer to institutions that fund farmers, and buyers, need to be involved in the efforts to ensure food security.Most importantly, the recommendations from the conference should be implemented by all the concerned parties.