Rwanda: Digital Services Portfolio is making women’s agribusiness borderless

Rubavu – It is on International Women’s Day, and daylight is fading calmly in the Rubavu district, Western Rwanda. Angelique Nizeyimana, 49, a mother of five is chatting with her new friend who lives in the United States of America. Over the past 20 years, Nizeyimana was growing fruits and vegetables until she met this new friend and added mushroom production on other food crops, she grows on 2 hectares.

In 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), selected Nizeyimana with her fellow Farmer Field School Facilitators and gave her a new smartphone equipped with data and four Digital applications. The Smartphone did not come alone, she said FAO trained her on the maximum use of its four applications, which are: Cure and Feed your livestock, e-Nutrifood, Weather and Crop Calendar, and “AgriMarketplace.

“The training was very good and informative. I learned to navigate the applications and increased my production and income.” She smilingly said.

Her navigation did not stop at FAO’s applications. Through her former schoolmate, she got connected to a mushroom farmer in the United States. “That new friend started to send me Youtube videos of mushroom production, I liked it and started to produce and sell it. The business is thriving and we chat all the time” adding “with AgriMarketplace application I chat with clients in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the U.S. When the season is good I can get 1 thousand US Dollar per month”.

Country Representatives of FAO, IFAD and WFP in Rwanda  visited Angelique Nizeyimana and her fellow women producers and cross border traders to celebrate International Women’s Day under the theme: “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality:  Leveraging the transformative power of inclusive digitalization and innovation for rural women and girls."

Digitalizing cross-border agribusiness

Nizeyimana is one of 59 Farmer Field School Facilitators FAO gave Smartphones under the Joint Project of the UN Peacebuilding Fund titled “ Creating peace dividends for women and youth through increased cross-border trade and strengthened food security. The project funded by the UN Secretary General’s Peace Building Fund also brought together UNDP and WFP.

“The applications we have in our phones changed everything we used to do. We now farm for business. We use the app to get market information without moving and when I want to market my products, I just take photos and send them to buyers in Rwanda and DRC. This cut expenses I used to incur for transportation” said Francoise Niyibikora, a farmer of fruits and vegetables.

Better production

“In Farmer Field Schools, a crop is the teacher. We meet and observe our crops, where they are pests and diseases we don’t know, we just take photos and send them to Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Board. They then do research and advise us.  These applications not only increased our production but also tremendously reduced the money we used to spend buying unnecessary pesticides or fertilizers,” said Epiphanie Nyirarukundo, a farmer of onions, beans, and maize.

Better Nutrition

“It is not understandable how our children used to be affected by malnutrition, yet we produce all the food they need. However, on our smartphones, we installed FAO’s application called e-Nutrifood and we are now able to get all information related to what to feed our kids, at the right time and quantity. This is greatly contributing to halting stunting in our country” said Christine Nyirantibakuze, a member of a cooperative of cross-border traders.

A better environment

The Smartphones FAO provided to these women have another application called Weather and Crop Calendar. It is a searchable platform, which aids farmers’ decision-making on planting and harvesting periods, sowing rates, and other cultural practices for crops according to agroecological zones.

A better life

Speaking to these women who are in horticulture, FAO Representative Coumba Sow, reminded them that the digital services portfolio is not only meant to increase production and incomes but is to empower and inform them so they can live a dignified life as free and valued women.

“Take digitalization as an important tool not only in farming but also in your daily lives. Many women are not yet able to express themselves or liaise with their fellows, but with the applications, you access you can even talk with people who are not in your country learn from them and share your knowledge. That is why every leader is determined to bridge the digital gender gap, so that you may be able to be empowered and unleash your full potential”

 “Listening to what you have been able to achieve through the use of digital applications, can only inspire us to think about other initiatives we could implement together. Keep disseminating the skills you got because we know that women are always important agents of positive change” said Dagmawi Habte-Selasie, IFAD Representative.

Ahmareen Karim, WFP Country Representative ad interim, also applauded the women in cross-border trade for making schools their first clients.

“I am glad that you sell your products to schools, that is a great contribution to making food available for children, who are the bridge between present and future generations. You contribute to the School feeding programme the Government of Rwanda is implementing” she said.

FAO Rwanda has so far trained and equipped 7,109 women on agriculture digitalization but the journey continues. According to the 5^th population and housing census, more than 78.1% of Rwanda’s private households have a mobile phones. Private households whose at least one member used the internet in the last 12 months stand at 22.8% and at the national level, 69% of households are engaged in agriculture activities (crop production or animal husbandry). There is hope that taking stock of Rwanda’s rapid digitalization progress, the joint efforts of bridging the digital gender gap will continue to yield more results.