The Ministry of Agriculture, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), yesterday, announced renewed approach to ensure sustainable food security. This was the highlight of a three-day consultative process aimed at identifying potential areas of action to ensure Sustainable Food and Agriculture (SFA) in Rwanda as a pilot country. “We need to discuss in detail so that the future generation benefits from our commitment,” the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Innocent Musabyimana, said. Agriculture is facing an unprecedented confluence of pressures, including population explosion which has put a strain on the available land. The FAO Representative to Rwanda, Attaher Maiga, said: “Rwanda is leading in many areas. In the last 20 years, we have seen substantial progress, especially in terms of agricultural and socio-economic development.” FAO intends to integrate various agricultural production systems into a single approach, while also attending to principles that balance the socio-economic as well as environmental dimensions of sustainable food and agriculture. The process will hopefully accelerate the transition to more sustainable food and agriculture (crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture) systems at country-level, Mark Davis, FAO Coordinator of the pilot phase of SFA approach, said. “We want to make adjustments and, where possible, introduce new approaches, expertise and training of farmers,” he said. The workshop comes after an assessment survey was undertaken to better identify issues, projects and policies as well as strategies related to SFA in Rwanda. The Government of Rwanda and FAO started working on sustainable food and agriculture in June 2014.
