Editor,

Reading The New Times yesterday, I was pleased to learn that Rwanda’s national food crop output increased by 6.2 percent. I believe that this was a result of the governments green revolution policy and the increase in use of fertilizers.

Former French president Charles de Gaulle said that a country that couldn’t feed itself, is a country that is insecure. I am of the same belief.

Although international trade can supplement a country’s’ food requirements, it is totally unsafe. What happens when, for example, you have a dispute with a nation that supplies most of your grain?

You must kowtow to it, even when its against your national interest. I believe that one of the reasons that the great USSR finally fell is because it couldn’t feed itself, and it needed the US to provide it with the grain it needed to feed its people.

I wouldn’t want Rwanda to face such a dilemma. That is why I believe that further steps are needed so that we comfortably feed our own people, and export some food as well. Food is power; he who doesn’t have it is at a huge disadvantage. It is a national security priority. 

Henry Minega
Nyamirambo