Rwanda has experienced remarkable growth over the past decade and continues to place co-operatives at the forefront of the move towards self-sufficiency and poverty reduction. In support of efforts to improve household food security and income levels, CANADAID is building on a three year pilot to improve the productivity, marketing, infrastructure and management capacity of 15 agricultural co-operatives and their members.

First, the project will increase food availability by helping small-scale, rural farmers to improve the quality and quantity of food they produce, second it will increase farmer incomes and third it will reduce households’ ongoing vulnerability to food insecurity by increasing their resilience through improving nutrition and strengthening the co-operative’s governance and management.

Smallholder farmers in drought and  flood prone regions of Rwanda are  struggling to meet their nutritional  needs. Women and young children are particlarly affected and are unable to  reach their full potential.

The Canadian Association  for international Aid (CANADAID),  is improving food  security among smallholder women and  men co-op farmers growing rice, maize,  cassava, soybeans, and vegetables in six  districts of rural Rwanda.

The Rwanda Co-operative Agricultural  Growth project (RCAG)  is a five-year  (2012-2017) CAD $4.5 million project  with financial support from  Global  Affairs Canada  and the  Co-operative  Development Foundation of Canada  (CDF).

RCAG  is strengthening the capacity  of 15 farmer-owned and managed  co-operative enterprises to deliver the  tools their members  need to become  food secure:  skills to grow better and  more productive crops, storage and  drying facilities to maximize crop values  and sales, and access to financial and  marketing services to obtain higher  house hold incomes.

We know that gender   equitable food security can   be achieved and sustained   by building the capacity of men and   women farmers and encouraging them   to work together as member-owners   of local, financially viable agricultural   co-operatives. The aims of the RCAG   project are:

• More food availability through      trainings and inputs to help      small-scale farmers improve the      quality and quantity of the food      they produce.

• Increased income to enable farmers      to improve their family nutrition by      purchasing more and better food.

• Less vulnerability to food insecurity      by increasing household resilience to     external shocks and stresses such as      climate change and market trends.

The project ensures that women and men   have equal opportunities to improve   their livelihoods and reduce their   vulnerabilities to climate change through   sustainable farming approaches.

We work closely with local, district, and   regional governments and stakeholders   to help strengthen their capacity to   serve smallholder farmers in the region.

Farmers are gaining control as they    adopt time-tested co-operative tools    to achieve food security, prosperity    and the confidence necessary to build    a better future for themselves and their    communities. The farmer members of    15 co-operative enterprises (11 maize    co-ops and 4 rice co-ops) are learning to:

Improve    production with better    farming and business management    tools and methods.   Diversify    household food consumption    to meet nutritional needs.

Harvest, pool, process and effectively    store crops to earn better prices.

Contribute    to the success of their    co-operative enterprises and their    country’s future