NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON AFRICAN FOOD POLICY LEMIGO HOTEL, 16TH APRIL 2021

1.INTRODUCTION

In partnership AFSA (Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa), ACORD Rwanda organized a consultative meeting with members of the National Reference Group (NRG) on the issue of food policy in Rwanda and in Africa.

The National Reference Group is a think tankwhose members are from different backgrounds:Government (policy makers), development partners, NGOs and CSO; Farmers organizations, Consumers organizations;associations, businesses, media, academia, farming communitiesand women groups.

The meeting, prepared by a steering committee, was meant to pave the way for a further consultation of high level actors involved in the implementation of national policies related to the food system in Rwanda.

The outcome of the consultations at national level will be validated in a document which will be channeled to AFSA who is coordinating with others countries and the AU commission, for sharing and consolidation in view of elaborating a sustainable food policy for the continent.

2.BACKGROUND

In Rwanda like elsewhere in Africa, corporates and private companies in search of more income and profits are hijacking food systems. For those private actors, food is just a marketable commodity than an inclusive right. They care less on the impacts of their operations along the food value chain on the environmental degradation, malnutrition, the rise in Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), cultural erosion, and loss of diversity and nobody is holding them accountable. In the same trend, governments and development partners are working hard to increase the agricultural productivity as a way to increase wealth (GDP) in order to address the issues of feeding the growing population and raise the GDP. Food related policies are being shaped to support the FDI and to facilitate the private sector led economies.

As a result, today Africa has the highest incidence of food borne illnesses and chronic malnutritionleading to millions of deaths and acute illnesses. In Africa, the levels of diet-related non-communicable diseases are rising as a result of rapid urbanisation, and rapidly changing food systems and the diets have become the leading contributor to global environmental degradation, affecting land, water, biodiversity, climate and air quality. It became imperative to engage and involve citizens in the search of solutions and alternatives to reverse the trends, hence the partnership between AFSA and ACORD Rwanda to consult stakeholders through a national food policy dialogue.

3. DELIBERATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1. Deliberations from the National Dialogue
3.1.1. Definition of a good food system
The definition According to the International Food Policy Research Institute IFPRI was improved as follow: Food systems are the sum of actors and interactions along the food value chain from land use, input supply, production of crops, livestock, fish, and other agricultural commodities to harvesting, transportation, storing, processing, packaging, wholesaling, , retailing, and preparation of foods to consumption and disposal

A FOOD SYSTEM IS GOOD WHEN:

• The food is accessible, inclusive and enough
• The food is healthy, nutritious, safe and balanced
• The food is produced ecologically and environment friendly
• The operations along the entire food value chain are sustainable
• The food is diverse from crops, livestock and fish.
• The food in surplus to the family needs is sold to market (profit generation) at the right price

3.1.2. Principles for the sustainable food system we want in Rwanda

Among the chief principles are the following:

• We produce our own food using a sustainable farmer-based seed system and inputs (less dependency on imports), with a particular attention to the improvement of indigenous seeds and other healthy practices: ecological farming , storing practices, cooking, etc .
• We produce food in harmony with nature without degrading lands, ecosystems and biodiversity
• We increase agro-ecological practices and biodiversity, reduce industrial agrochemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, microbial, and provide extensive information to all stakeholders on the side effects of these industrial inputs (filling information gaps).
• We build the capacities of food producers, dealers and consumers in informed choices about safe and healthy food and diets, and about the advantages/disadvantages of various practices or choices at every stage of each value chain.
• We put in place a certification system that supports farmers along the food production value chain, starting from the quality of the land and the water used in food production.
• Farmers’s voice is well organized and heard in FS governance, especially women’s voice who are the most involved at very sensitive stages of every value chain.
  In addition, the participants to the national dialogue emphasized the following aspects in order to sustainably build a just and resilient food system in Rwanda
• We help farmers getting more post-harvest facilities, small processing units managed by themselves, and better feeding roads in their neighborhood.
• We take more initiatives in linking farmers to markets and facilitate their access to the strategic information needed in this process, by dealing with the existing knowledge gap in this domain.
• We encourage platforms and clusters linked with value chains, for a better dissemination of strategic information between key actors and their networking.
• We train the Rwandan population in the diversification of their eating habits (change of cultural mindsets) in order to diversify their sources of proteins and vitamins, particularly from diverse insects and the flora
• All policies related to the food system in Rwanda are reviewed, integrated, harmonized and coordinated by leading structure (working group) at the government and the parliament levels.
• We integrate the factor of population growth and family planning in our food policy, as we can’t increase production indefinitely when farming lands are not extensible.

3.1.3. Existing policies and strategies that need to be coherent for a sustainable food system in Rwanda

For a sustainable food system in Rwanda, the following policies need coherence to the national food policy

• The National land use & management policy (for demarcation and protection of arable lands)
• The National Agriculture policy and its implementation strategy PSTA4 (for sustainable production model in harmony with nature and ecosystems, and biodiversity)
• The national trade policy together with the National Industry Policy (for post-harvest, processing, storing and distribution all over the country)
• The Climate change policy (natural resources and services, biodiversity)
• The National Food and Nutrition strategy (for healthy diets for all and for specific groups)
• The National quality and standards policy (for food quality assurance and certification. along the chain).
• The family planning policy
• The gender policy
• The habitat/housing policy

3.1.4. Main policy Gaps in the food policy and system

Participants to the national dialogue discussed and agreed on the following policy gaps in relation to building a sustainable food system:

• Though most policies have a provision on coordination with concerned institutions, participants noted unanimously the lack of a coherent food policy, cutting across sectors and joining up different levels of governance, means that accountability is hugely dispersed.
• Despite the term sustainability is present in many policy documents, most policies converge towards supporting the increase of productivity and income through the conventional agriculture using industrial inputs and market export oriented, while nature based inputs and ecological livelihoods are listed in few specific policies.
• The national agricultural policy does not articulate enough on Sustainability and healthy diets in the modern agribusiness technologies professionalizing farmers in terms of production, commercialisation of the outputs and the creation of a competitive agriculture sector.
• The trade policy provides for an opportunity to invest in agroecological organic agriculture for both food and cash crops and for both domestic and export consumption. But in over all, it is more export and conventional oriented
• The National food and nutrition policy need to go beyond nutrition and increasing the availability of calories, to encompass the entire structure and governance of the food system in Rwanda;
• The Made in Rwanda policy supports the SFS by promoting of off farms jobs and income, especially for those who eat after work, those who earn money to buy food are on the increase; but there is a gap in promoting rural agroprocessing towards a SFS
• The National Fertilizer Policy need to be updated to focus on the adverse role of industrial agrochemicals in the soil and human health, hence the need to leverage their utilisation in food and livestock production;
• The National Social Protection policy provides for good practice of Inclusiveness of the vulnerable groups and extremely poor, and marginalised groups; but there is no substantial and strategic infrastructures towards a SFS in service to the poorest
• The National Quality and standards Control policy is essential for the SFS to ensure certified quality of food and health diets for all; it needs to be enhanced to address the critical issues related to processed and imported unsafe food stuffs.

The table below summarizes the policies, food system structure and related gaps and opportunities