Rwanda – USAID PL 480 Title II Development Activity Program

Boosting Incomes and Increasing Food Security

Rwanda covers an area of over 26,338 square km, and is home to more than 8.1 million people, making it the most densely populated country in Africa. Although approximately 87 percent of Rwandans work in agriculture, per capita food production is low, and almost 60 percent of households live below the poverty line with very poor dietary diversity.

Following the civil war and genocide of the 1990s, Rwanda fell into a downward economic spiral compounded by market destabilization and severe food shortages due to systemic deficiencies in agricultural production, distribution and marketing. In response to the severe situation, USAID awarded ACDI/VOCA 3 consecutive food assistance programs, including the current $19 million Title II Development Activity Program, under which ACDI/VOCA works to reduce chronic food insecurity and vulnerability of individuals, households and communities throughout Rwanda. The program is implemented in 11 districts of Rwanda along with project partners Africare, the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative, the Rwandan Districts of Rulindo, Rwamagana and Gicumbi, Development and Management Solutions (DMS), Wakala East Africa Ltd, and Construction Consultancy Corporation (CCC). ACDI/VOCA and its partners work towards alleviating food insecurity through three strategic objectives:

• increasing incomes and reducing vulnerability to food insecurity
• improving household health and nutrition and reducing vulnerability to HIV/AIDS
• increasing access to basic food commodities through monetization and local production

ACDI/VOCA works to achieve these objectives through five major component areas: cooperative capacity-building training; food security enhancement activities and grants; agroforestry; road rehabilitation; Gikongoro Food Security Initiative (GFSI) and monetization and logistics.

Cooperative Capacity Building Training

Through the P.L. 480 Title II Program, ACDI/VOCA and its partners promote cooperative development and improved food production. ACDI/VOCA provides training to 15 cooperatives on leadership and governance, cooperative management and business skills. It also offers improved cooperative services to ten agricultural cooperatives on commercial farming. The services increase the value of agricultural production and increase farmers’ incomes. ACDI/VOCA works alongside local training service providers, including DMS and Wakala East Africa Ltd, to deliver high-quality training and technical follow-up on agricultural production and business practices. These training services improve members’ knowledge of crop production methods, environmentally sound practices, post-harvest handling and storage techniques, and the better use of agricultural inputs.

Food Security Enhancement Activities and Grants

ACDI/VOCA allocates grant funding to 21 cooperatives and associations, benefiting over 2,500 member households in 6 districts. The $600,000 food security grants are used for training, technical assistance, production, post-harvest inputs, equipment and capacity building. ACDI/VOCA provides the grants to organizations in food-insecure areas willing to pilot food crop activities that can eventually help members generate more income and therefore become less food insecure. Activities include the use of improved technologies and practices, and the expanded use of agricultural inputs.

Agroforestry

ACDI/VOCA and World Agroforestry Centre have joined efforts to implement a project called the “Shade Tree Agroforestry Project.” This is aimed at increasing incomes and food security for farmers by promoting the extensive adoption of tree shade in hillside farming for enhancing coffee quality, lessening soil erosion and diversifying smallholder farming systems in the Rubavu and Rutsiro districts on Lake Kivu. The project works with farm enterprises to identify shade tree varieties that improve coffee quality and production and are also complementary to coffee production. Shade trees provide a range of byproducts and services, such as food, livestock feed, soil fertility and soil erosion control. Agroforestry also serves as a diversification of smallholder farming systems and is environmentally sustainable. Approximately 2,000 farmers are planting and maintaining agroforestry crops, and in 2009, the shade tree project aims to plant 1 million trees and further strengthen coffee cooperatives to sustain these efforts.

Road Rehabilitation

ACDI/VOCA implements a program of farm-to-market road rehabilitation to open up rural enclaves to commercial access. Improved roads provide farming households with better access to schools, health centers and markets, thereby increasing agricultural productivity and marketing efforts and further contributing to health and nutrition efforts. ACDI/VOCA has completed 2 road rehabilitation segments of a total of 15.7 kms to date, between the Murehe and Nzige sectors and the Nzige and Rubona sectors. Future plans will see an additional road segment created to support the rehabilitation of a 10 km feeder road segment between the Mwuire and Rubona sectors. This particular road rehabilitation is estimated to benefit a total of 36,423 people that live in the area.

Gikongoro Food Security Initiative (GFSI)

GFSI is a five-year subactivity implemented by Africare under ACDI/VOCA’s DAP. The goal is to reduce chronic food insecurity and vulnerability of individuals, households, and communities to food security shocks in the Nyamagabe district. Some of GFSI’s activities are behavior change communication, voluntary counseling and testing, home-based care, nutrition and support to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA); distribution of food commodities to associations of PLWHA; and mobile voluntary counseling and testing facility services. To date, approximately 3,760 beneficiaries have been trained in HIV/AIDS awareness and 691 metric tons of nutritious food have been provided to PLWHA and their families.

Monetization and Logistics

ACDI/VOCA is currently the lead monetizer in the Rwanda Monetization Consortium, which also includes Catholic Relief Services and World Vision. Major 2009 deliverables will include the monetization of approximately 760 MT of commodity—including ACDI/VOCA’s portion—and approximately $35,000 in fees repatriated to HQ from 2009 umbrella monetization activities.

For more information, contact Alexandra Bellage at abellage@acdivoca.org.

Updated: 6/09

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