FAO and Rwanda Harness Digital Tech to Empower Rural Farmers

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) , successful collaboration with Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI),  hosted a Digital Village twinning lawsuit arsenic portion of the Fostering Digital Villages done Innovative Advisory and Profitable Market Services successful Africa (FDiVi) project.

The lawsuit brought unneurotic much than 130 participants, including representatives from husbandman organizations, backstage assemblage partners, integer ambassadors, and officials from the Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT) , MINAGRI, and the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA) . The gathering served arsenic a level for sharing experiences and champion practices successful leveraging integer technologies to heighten cultivation productivity, marketplace access, advisory services, and entree to real-time information and knowledge.

A cardinal item of the lawsuit was a Peer Learning Session, during which members from 48 husbandman cooperatives shared testimonies and champion practices connected however integer tools person transformed their regular lives. These stories illustrated the real-world interaction of integer translation successful agriculture, peculiarly successful improving efficiency, profitability, and marketplace connectivity.

During a sheet discussion, territory authorities from Musanze, Nyanza, Ngororero, and Nyagatare reflected connected the opportunities and challenges of scaling integer agriculture successful agrarian communities. The 4 districts expressed their committedness to integrating the FDiVi task into section improvement plans and emphasized the value of cross-district collaboration and adjacent learning some wrong Rwanda and arsenic a exemplary for different countries.

FAO Representative a.i successful Rwanda Nomathemba Mhlanga commended the relation of integer ambassadors successful guiding farmers done the integer literacy travel and underscored the request for continued enactment from section governments.

“District and assemblage authorities indispensable stay the span betwixt argumentation and practice, betwixt strategy and implementation.”

–Nomathemba Mhlanga, Representative a.i, FAO.

As portion of the event, outstanding husbandman cooperatives were recognized during an awards ceremony. FAO provided 99 smartphones to selected husbandman organizations to enactment entree to integer tools.

“This smartphone volition alteration however our cooperative accesses information, connects with markets, receives integer advisory services, and promotes our cultivation products utilizing technology.”

–Nyirabakiga Immaculée, Recipient (of smartphone), Farmer cooperative member. 

Through the FDiVi project, FAO continues to empower agrarian communities by fostering inclusive integer ecosystems that thrust innovation, marketplace integration, and improved livelihoods crossed Rwanda.

FAO’s FDiVi project, launched successful April 2024, empowers astir 150 husbandman groups successful Malawi, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe by utilizing integer tools specified arsenic tablets, AI‑chatbots, and societal media to heighten cultivation advisory services, amended marketplace access, and boost agrarian livelihoods.