Rwanda: Calls grow for government to do more on food security

There is a need to urgently devise ways to significantly boost food productivity if the country is to achieve its food security targets, experts and farmers say. They say one of the key bottlenecks facing the sector is lack of results-oriented research and called for increased funding in that area. The issue is even more pressing considering that the average farm size in Rwanda is 0.5 hectare, with stakeholders calling for deliberate efforts to boost productivity on limited farmland. This, they say, will be critical in helping Rwanda achieve its food security targets and fix issues related to pockets of hunger that emerge in different parts of the country from time to time. Alphonsine Nzamwita, a farmer in Gatsibo District, told The New Times that food insecurity is still a challenge, noting that crop productivity has not been as good as expected. "When the last rains came they washed away some of the crops. And it became worse when the dry spell came," she said, adding that his ...