World Food Day: How WFP is working to strengthen food systems

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) joins the Government and partners in Rwanda to celebrate the World Food Day. Together, WFP commits to leave no one behind and seeks to end hunger, empower smallholder farmers for better and improved food productivity and income, ensure the most vulnerable community members including children, lactating women and pregnant mothers receive better nutrition and invest in resilience building for a better environment and life for all. “WFP partners with the Government, sister UN agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders to strengthen food systems against increasing volatility of weather conditions and climate shocks to be able to deliver affordable and healthy diets for all and improve farmers’ livelihoods throughout the entire food value chain,” says Edith Heines, WFP Representative and Country Director. Through the “Sustainable Market Alliance and Assets creation for Resilient Communities and Gender Transformation” (SMART) project, WFP focuses on developing climate-resilient community assets such as land terraces, marshland rehabilitation, and improved small-scale irrigation systems to build community resilience to natural shocks such as drought, floods, and landslides. This is combined with the provision of agricultural inputs, training for farmers, and support to better access markets to generate lasting improvements in livelihoods and food security. Over 180,000 people are benefiting from the project in five districts. Asteria is a 48-year-old mother of six children and a smallholder farmer in Rutsiro District. Her potato harvest has doubled on the land terraced by WFP. “I thank WFP and funding partners for creating hope for me and my family,” she says. “I had lost hope to harvest enough food on my agricultural land due to constant soil erosion. I would lose both seeds and fertilisers every season as heavy rains washed away the topsoil.” Since Asteria’s land has been terraced, she is able to plant potatoes, beans, and wheat on a rotational basis every season since September 2021. In addition to creating assets for smallholder farmers under the SMART project, farmers also receive support through the WFP-implemented Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA), which aims to make agricultural markets work better for smallholder farmers across the country. Smallholder farmers’ cooperatives receive training on improving the quality and quantity of their crops and are being linked to potential buyers to sell their quality harvests (mainly maize and beans) at premium prices. To build effective farmers’ organisations, WFP builds their capacity on governance, business planning, financial management, savings, and access to finance. WFP invests in Post-Harvest Loss Reduction initiative projects to enhance smallholder farmers’ capacities in the Southern, Eastern, Northern, And Western Provinces of Rwanda, aiming primarily at improving farmers’ incomes, as well as food and nutritional security WFP provided post-harvest handling and storage equipment including drying tarpaulins, moisture meters, and hermetic storage equipment to over 46,000 farmers across the country. Post-harvest losses have negatively impacted food and nutritional security, not only financially for the smallholder farmers, but also in terms of reduced quantity and quality of food available for consumption at the household. Through capacity development and education of smallholder farmers on post-harvest management, WFP contributes to improving post-harvest practices, crop drying systems (to prevent grain rotting and fungal infestation), storage systems (preventing qualitative and quantitative losses from insect and weather spoilage), and food safety. In reducing post-harvest losses and ensuring quality production, WFP has also supported initiatives to reduce aflatoxin in maize grains. Through partnership with the private sector, new technologies have been availed to smallholder farmers. “AflaKiosk” provides free grain testing services which allow traders and farmers to determine the quality of their grain before selling it, thus providing farmers with access to better markets and better prices for their uncontaminated maize. Early testing and detection of aflatoxin saves people from consuming the contaminated food and establishes the quality link for smallholder farmers to premium buyers. The availability of high-quality grain on the market also contributes to improving market reliability, reduces costly food imports, and contributes to investments into the agricultural value chain across the country. In addition to AflaKiosk innovative technology, WFP, in partnership with private sectors, also supports farmers to access the Aflasight machine which helps them to detect and treat aflatoxin-infected maize grains. Aflasight sorts aflatoxin-infected maize grains using high technology “UV light” amongst other innovations to detect infected maize grains in 20 metric tons of maize consignment per hour and has the capacity to reduce aflatoxin levels by up to 90 percent with only 5 percent volume loss. With available innovative technology in post-harvest handling, farmers can thus safely clean maize and sell a quality harvest for better prices. This boosts farmers' incomes, brings safer and healthy maize grains products to local markets, and supports the local food systems.

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World Food Day: How WFP is working to strengthen food systems