Two days ago, The Sunday Times published a story on the state of  food security in Rwanda but more specifically at the household level. According to the newspaper’s investigations, it was established that because of ‘modernisation’, many families were phasing out granaries which for centuries were the traditional way of storing and preserving  food to save people in times of food shortage.

There is need to reverse this trend because the traditional granary is still essential in ensuring food security especially in the rural areas.

Each family should be encouraged to have a granary and this should be enforced by local leaders through sensitisation programmes. 

Currently, government is engaged in programmes aimed improving food security in the country through engaging households at the grassroots level to keep and preserve food.

However more efforts are needed to ensure that farmers adopt best post-harvest practices including having a well built granary in each household.

While government is involved in  constructing warehouses and installing metallic silos among other interventions, at the household level the granary should be a must have for families.

Educating the masses on the importance of preserving food and why owning a granary is the first step towards fighting hunger, is critical. Just like everyone is encouraged to save at least 5% of their income, farmers should also be taught to store a small share of their harvest in a granary because little is better than nothing at all. This stored food can be sold in future or eaten during very tough times.