Rwanda: Reducing
Malnutrition and
Enhancing Food Security
Republic of Rwanda
Overview

Introduction

Rwanda

Strategic Orientation

Health Focus

Agriculture Focus

Specific Interventions

Lessons & Challenges
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Rwanda

Rural life is the Backbone of Rwanda: Over 80 percent of the population
directly depend on Agriculture for their livelihoods

Poverty is a challenge: Poverty headcount (MDG 1c) is at 56.9% (2005)
from 60.4% (2000). However, large reduction expected for 2011 when new
data will be available.

Land availability is scarce: the average landholding is around 0.7 hectares,
with high population density with of 395 inhabitants per square km.

However, Malnutrition prevalence has been greatly reduced. The MDG
target will be met in 2011. 15.8% percent in 2005 where malnourished
from a baseline of 24.5% in 2000. Given increased efforts, the target of
14.5% for 2015 will be met by 2011.
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Nutrition

Malnutrition: any disorder or condition resulting from excess or deficient
nutrient intake. In Rwanda, under nutrition takes the forms of wasting,
underweight, stunting or micronutrient deficiencies

Childhood Malnutrition has irreversible negative impacts on cognitive
development, health and economic development

Malnutrition increases the livelihood of a poverty-traps (poor are
excluded from labour market because due to lack of capacity and
therefore are trapped)

In Rwanda, agriculture has potential to be the key catalyst in reducing
malnutrition through food security and job creation

In Rwanda, health services to focus on the ‘window of opportunity’
(minus 9 to 24 months) for interventions to improve Rwandan livelihoods
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Context

Rwandan has implemented a multi-pronged approach to food security and
malnutrition reduction in Rwanda: agriculture and health lead the entry-points

Key policy framework:

National Multi-Sectoral Strategy to Eliminate Malnutrition in Rwanda (20102013) - Ministry of Health led strategy on malnutrition elimination. The key
target is to reduce malnutrition by 30% by 2013 from 2010.

Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Agriculture in Rwanda (PSTA II)
(2008-2012)– Guiding strategic document for the Ministry of Agriculture and
Animal Resources. This aims to achieve food security and increase agriculturalrelated incomes in alignment with the Economic Development Poverty
Reduction Strategy as well as CAADP, MDGs and Vision 2020

Health Sector Strategic Plan (2009-2012)- Ministry of Health’s guiding
document. This aims to enable Rwanda to meet the health MDGs.
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Health Focus

Despite vast improvements relative to MDG targets (reducing under-five
mortality and infant mortality rates), malnutrition is of heightened
priority in Rwanda.

First National Nutrition Summit was held in Rwanda in November 2009
to focus attentions to reduce malnutrition: NSEM 2010-2013

Headline policy priority: to reduce acute malnutrition rate by 30 percent
by 2012 from 2010. Reduce malnutrition in children aged 6 - 59 months:
reducing wasting from 4.6% to 1%; stunting from 52% to 36.4%; and
underweight from 15.8%to 10.3%. Thinness among pregnant and
lactating mothers (7% to 4.5%)

The NSEM will draw from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Local
Government, and the Ministry of Agriculture
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Agriculture Focus

Government of Rwanda’s strategy on agriculture::

Irrigation: Less Dependence on Rain-fed Agriculture &
Improving the productivity of the land

Crop Intensification Program: supporting production through
access to inputs, knowledge increase through extension &
farmer field schools, encouraging market linkages locally and
regionally, and effectively consolidating the land

Improving Post-Harvest Activities: Need to secure crops in
post-production phase, storage should be well-managed and
less waste

Integrating Livestock into the Farm: Supporting Nutrition and
Soil Productivity

Innovation through an Active Research Agenda: Drive
Growth in Production and increase nutritional rich varieties
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Production Push
4,500,000
600,000
4,000,000
Roots & Tubers Production
500,000
3,500,000
3,000,000
400,000
2,500,000
300,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
Cereals & Pulses Production
Food Production Evolution
200,000
1,000,000
100,000
500,000
0
0
1998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010
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Roots & Tubers:
Cassava & Irish Potato
Cereals: Wheat &
Maize
Pulses: Beans
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Translating into energy gains

Historical context is remarkable given the alarming low-levels
in 2001.

The production increases have translated into increased
availability of energy, proteins and lipids: this forms the
foundation to effectively fight malnutrition

Now the challenge is to ensure that distribution mechanisms
and that knowledge is there through interventions
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Food Security Trend
2007
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2010
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Specific Government of Rwanda Interventions
to reduce Malnutrition

The One-Cow Program:

Distributes cows to poor/vulnerable households with less
than 0.7 hectares – currently 113,334 families have received
cows

Integrated Livestock Management: Productive assets used
for nutritional gain and increased fertilization of smallholders
land. This occurs with a policy of zero-grazing which is
sustainable for smallholders

Multiplier Effect: A resulting offspring, the female-cow, is
then passed on to another poor family – part of One-Cow
arrangement

Externalities: Encouragement of the diary industry has led to
milk production doubling since 2006
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Specific GoR Interventions to reduce Malnutrition

Kitchen Gardens: Vulnerable families identified and
assisted through knowledge-campaigns on nutrition,
setting up kitchen gardens to improve smallholder
nutrition by encouraging a culture of vegetable and
fruit consumption.

Fish Farming: Small-scale fish ponds have expanded
under donor-financed program. Represents
important intake of proteins and lipids for those in
poverty

One Cup of Milk: Piloting the intervention of school
milk feeding programs, utilizing government-supply
chains to schools to reduce malnutrition and to
engender milk consumption in Rwanda
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Specific GoR Interventions to reduce Malnutrition

Increasing sensitization at local level : Information campaigns
through Ministry of Health Community Health Workers
(operating at the district level) on breastfeeding and good
nutrition have been aggressively rolled-out.

Institutionalization of malnutrition concerns: malnutrition
protocol management, equipping villages with scales,
included in school education, and encouraging bottom-up
process of districts formulating their own nutrition
intervention plan.
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Lessons & Challenges

Integrated approach: Recognize the need for an holistic approach (multi-sectoral)
to reducing malnutrition in Rwanda.

Contributing factors: Malnutrition can be further reduced and this will have
positive implications on poverty reduction and income-generation, allowing
attainment of MDG (2015).

Focus on Poor-Performing Areas: Improvements in Data allow the Government of
Rwanda to intervene more effectively (for example Kitchen Gardens in the South
and Western Province of Rwanda)

Rwanda efforts represent hope for the region: from a picture of food aid and near
starvation in some areas of the country in the 1990s, to one that is rapidly
reducing malnutrition and achieving food security.
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THANK YOU
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