Rwanda has made tremendous progress towards overcoming food insecurity in the last decade and looks to eradicate it completely by 2025, the Minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources has said.

Dr Gerardine Mukeshimana was speaking Thursday in Nyabirasi sector in Rutsiro District, Western Province as the country marked the World Food Day.

The annual event is observed to promote worldwide awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to achieve Zero Hunger, ensuring food security and nutritious diets for all.

It was held under the theme, "Our actions are our future. Healthy diets for a Zero Hunger World.”

Mukeshimana underscored that the country aims to not wait for 2030 to end food insecurity as envisioned by the United Nations stressing that efforts it invested in ensuring inclusive food security were paying off.

Minister of agriculture and animal resources, Dr. Gerardine Mukeshimana speaks in Rutsiro District on October 31 during celebrations of world food day. Courtesy

"Our country has made commendable progress in food security as it improved  from 48 per cent in 2006 and reached to 81.3 per cent in 2018,” added Mukeshimana

She went on to say that the improvement in food security in the country is largely attributed to the growth of the agriculture sector as a result of different policies and initiatives.

Land use consolidation, improved use of agricultural inputs, protection of land against soil erosion, irrigation, reduced post-harvest losses of both dried and fresh produce, One-Cow-Per-Poor-Family (Girinka), ‘small livestock’, and high-value crops promotion are among other initiatives that Mukeshimana said are at the heart of Rwanda’s success story as for as food security is concerned.

"The Government of Rwanda, in collaboration with its partners, remains highly committed to ensure food security and nutrition in the country,” she noted.

Figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) indicate that more than 820 million people in the world are still hungry today with 20 per cent on the African continent.

One of the poor residents from Rutsiro District who were give cows under One cow per poor family initiative hugs minister Mukeshimana. Courtesy

Commenting on the case of Rwanda, Mukeshimana said that about 4000 households are still facing the same threat stressing that most victims belong to households which are headed by elderly people, those who live with disabilities, and those in the first category of social stratification.

Three fruit plants per family

In a bid to contribute toward government efforts to end malnutrition by 2025, Mukeshimana called on every household to plant at least three different plants of fruit and particularly urged schools to play a big part towards implementing the initiative.

The One UN Resident Coordinator for Rwanda, Fode Ndiaye, lauded the country’s homegrown measures which he noted that are significantly contributing toward hunger eradication.

"Let me highlight the homegrown interventions that impact the food security and nutrition at large scale such as crop intensification programme, the One-Cow-Per-Poor-Family, the kitchen garden programme, the One-Cup-of-Milk-per-Child and the early childhood programme,” he said.

Ndiaye advised the Government to put in place what he called a "Centre of Excellence for Nutritious Sensitive Agriculture” to inspire other African countries to improve food security.

 "We believe it fixes with the country’s efforts to increase productivity and to tackle stunting, I am not aware of the existence of such a centre in Africa, not even in the world,” he noted.

 "Of course, the United Nations, in general, and FAO, WFP, IFAD and WHO, in particular, are really eager to discuss the best way to support that initiative should the government decide to pursue it”.

A number of activities were carried out to mark this year’s World Food Day. They included planting fruit trees to launch the three-tree campaign designed to mobilise Rwandan families to grow nutritious foods, providing children with nutritious diets and distributing cows to needy families through the Girinka programme.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com