PRUDENCE UMULISA

Agriculture

My name is Prudence Umulisa. I completed my Masters in Development Studies.

I am a hardworking student with critical thinking and extraordinary problem-solving skills. My questions and contributions in class were always logical, rational and analytical. I have demonstrated great leadership skills and I always handed my work in on time. My personality: I am well liked by fellow students, and I exhibit a remarkable degree of maturity and trustworthiness as well as high levels of diligence and reliability. My work was about “THE IMPACT OF THE AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION POLICY ON FOOD SECURITY: Case study of Selected Smallholder Farmers in Gicumbi District, Northern Province, Rwanda.

The contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Rwanda government needs to implement the target of vision 2020 in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals No. 2 (SDGs), which will be replaced by Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in reducing poverty with zero hunger. The establishment of vision 2020 took place in 2000 and its targets have to be achieved before the end of 2020 (FAO, 2016). Under the vision 2020 the Government of Rwanda plans to become the middle-income economy of the country (with a minimum income per capita of 900 USD), reducing poverty and to improve the life expectancy rate.

The impact on my community?

Rural agricultural activities are linked to the availability of livelihood assets. The practice of these activities develops the livelihood asset base of a farming household. Engaging in rural agriculture is directly connected to having natural capital, including land.

The findings of this research show that the relationships and networks amongst agronomists, farmers, and associations in the Gicumbi District, facilitated the acquisition of new information and knowledge of how to cook healthy foods, how to improve agricultural production and how to deal with the diseases and pests, which affect their crops. This shows that it is very important to have social capital in the quest to be a good rural farmer. The availability of this capital is vitally important to the engagement in these activities. Social capital is also wired by trust, as seen from the example in the Ukraine, where the local government trusts the farmers and provides them with loans, inputs, and trading opportunities (Wolz et al., 2010). The same applies in the Gicumbi District, where the government supplies the household farmers with inputs and fertilizer by providing credit through the NKUNGANIRE system. They are given the opportunity to buy goods at low