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

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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
esearch problems, the third part consists of the theoretical departure points and it discusses security as a broad concept, human security, gender and security, food security(its dimensions, the social aspect of food security, the role of the international community and local governments in food security); the last part discusses the research design, how the questions will be answered, who will participate in the study, where the study will be conducted, ethical considerations, and the time plan. II. Rwanda as a case The 2006 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis revealed that 52 percent of households in Rwanda are food insecure or vulnerable and among them 43 percent are concentrated in rural areas. Although food insecurity is found all over the country, it tends to be concentrated in the Western and Southern provinces and it is highest among agricultural labourers and those with ‘marginal livelihoods’ including those dependent on social transfers and female-headed households (NISR and World Food Programme, 2006). Reading from policy documents such as the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) 2007, most vulnerable households in Rwanda are headed by women, widows and children and they represent 43 percent of all households (EDPRS 2007, 17) After the genocide women comprised 70 percent of Rwanda’s population since men who usually had been the breadwinner of their families were either deceased or disappeared (Schindler 2010). This created a vacuum and women started to take breadwinner role cultivating their lands. In 2008, women were 52 percent of the population of Rwanda, they headed 32 percent of the home, and they have become a productive segment of the population. However, after the war food insecurity amongst rural women and children continue to elevate threatening the development of rural populations who are also vulnerable to diseases. In addition, research on Rwanda has revealed that women are more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity. For example, Ansoms and McKay (2010, 588) distinguished seven clusters of the population of Rwanda depending on their livelihood and they found that the bottom cluster is made of female-headed households, in most cases headed by older women. The human resources of this cluster are very limited in terms of the number of adults in the households having an income, the education level of the households and the average land available for cultivation. In terms of livestock, female-headed households are seriously deprived. 3
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