TSM: Why is supporting women in agriculture important?
Rwanda is an agricultural country like mine (Netherlands) which is partly an agricultural country. And Rwanda is
still focused subsistence farming but you have endless possibilities here in Rwanda to make it more market or trade value. Women traditionally have always had a role in agriculture and its also known that we women have disadvantaged positions in agriculture and that is not only in Rwanda but everywhere.

We have less access to land, finance and in general women are less educated than men worldwide, just because we are women. In Europe for example, we have more and more women educated but when you look for those who are specialists they are less, or if you look at my own service, more than half are into the service but how many ambassadors are women? According to FAO’s state of food and agriculture 2010/11, closing the Gender Gap in agriculture would generate significant gains both for the agricultural sector and for society as it could raise the agricultural output in the developing world by 2.5-4 per cent and could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 15 per cent. So, I think that agriculture is very important and yet there is little food to feed the world. Changing legislation to reduce the gender gap like the way Rwanda is doing is very important.

TSM: How is agriculture important for development and poverty reduction?
If you can grow so much and use it for trading as well then you can get out of poverty. People get stuck in poverty especially when they grow enough for feeding their own which is okay but then you cannot get any further and I think you can use agriculture in this country to stay away from poverty and of course Rwanda has its plans of becoming a middle-income country through its Vision 2020. Another important factor is reducing the Gender Gap and that means sending more children to school especially the girls. It does not mean staying away from farming but with good education you can think ahead and make plans of changing your farming from subsistence to trade and marketing agribusiness.

TSM: How does cutting Aid to Rwanda affect agricultural development projects?
There is a big effect on development obviously. I think that Rwanda is more than being Aid dependent, I think you have strength enough from yourselves.

Of course Aid helps in reaching your goals faster, it means that some of the goals will be reached less quick, you will go on, but the tempo will be less slow. Vision 2020. Another important factor is reducing the Gender Gap and that means sending more children to school especially the girls. It does not mean staying away from farming but with good education you can think ahead and make plans of changing your farming from subsistence to trade and marketing agribusiness.

TSM: What are the biggest challenges that women face in Rwanda and are affecting agribusiness?
A lot starts with education. If you go to school you feel more capacitated than someone who hasn’t gone to school. Education makes women more empowered, capacitated and able to stand on their own. What is key is that we feel capacitated and not less than someone else just because he is a guy. This is possible and we have several examples of female entrepreneurs in Rwanda whom we can look up to.

TSM: As much as there are several women entrepreneurs in society, what in your view, is holding women back from moving up the value chain?
I think we have to work with examples of women role models in society, for example if the media could publish more on females who have achieved, that would help. This would help because women and girls would feel empowered, enthused and inspired to do better. Fortunately, in Rwanda you have several role-models like the Foreign Affairs, Health and Agriculture Minister among other women leaders.

When more women are involved in leadership roles across all sectors, they are in position to influence policy change and that could lead towards closing the Gender Gap. Eventually, reducing the Gender Gap will positively impacts the lives of women in both the urban and rural areas as well as influences the perception of the younger generation of girls to pursue their dreams and goals through attaining an education.

 

 

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