1 Understanding food insecurity in rural Rwanda: how women ...

tea as the two main cash crops in Rwanda. The programme intends to increase
agricultural production by distributing fertilizers and seeds to farmers.(Republic of
Rwanda 2010, 18-19)
(2) Households in the rural areas are obliged to have a vegetable garden.
(3) The one cow per family that consists in distributing cows to poor households because
livestock play an important role in food security by providing animal products rich in
protein, providing manure, and it is a significant source of income for small holders
(Republic of Rwanda 2006, 5).
Although multiple measures have been taken at national and international level, food
insecurity is a complex issue in that it is driven by trends such as population growth and
urbanization, rises in food prices, a global economic crisis, changing diets and food
consumption patterns, processes such as environmental and climate change (Brown 2009;
Pinstrup-Andersen 2007; Smill 2000; cited in McDonald 2010, 5). The complexity of these
driving forces have led many analysts to conclude that the world faces a significant set of
challenges in the coming years as impacts of climate change, population growth, water
scarcity, and energy shortages will all contribute to and magnify the impacts of food
insecurity (Beddington 2009).
One of the challenges of food security studies is the common tendency in such studies to
focus on food production rather than other components of people’s provisioning strategies
(Liwenga 2003). The consequence of that is that a sole focus on production obscures the
range of livelihood strategies that work together with food production in order to ensure food
security (Cornwall and Scoones 1993, 68). A livelihood strategy encompasses not only
activities that generate income, but many other kinds of choices, including cultural and social
choices, that come together to make up the primary occupation of a household (Ellis, 1998).
Periodic or chronic food stress does not cause all members of a population to be similarly or
equally affected. As Van Andel (1998) says, the rural household is not a homogenous group
of individuals hence the importance of distinguishing not only households’ types, but also
individuals within households when considering factors such as access to resources and
livelihood issues (Guyer 1980; Moock 1986).
The present research proposal consists of the following main parts: the first part is the
introduction that discusses briefly the work and motivation of why Rwanda is a relevant case
and how food security is a priority for the government of Rwanda; the second part is about the
2