To increase the country’s food production, government should support farmers, especially women, by facilitating them to easily access finance.

The call was made by the Country Director of ActionAid, Josephine Irene Uwamariya, during the  launch of the "Hunger Free Week” campaign yesterday.

"Women farmers contribute over 50 percent of the food consumed globally; therefore supporting them either financially or technically is building on our food security,” Uwamariya said.

She explained that during the Week, most of the activities will focus on training women farmers.

"The hunger burden in any family especially in villages hit mothers harder since they are in charge of providing food for their children, hence the reason we decided to focus on them,” she pointed out.

Currently, ActionAid operates in five districts identified as having the most vulnerable population. These include Nyanza, Nyaruguru, Musanze, Gisagara and Karongi.

In his speech, the NGO`s head of programme and policy, Innocent Mutabaruka, said that although government has achieved a lot in promoting agriculture, more needs to be done to address challenges experienced by ordinary farmers.

"Women are members in farmer`s cooperatives, but they need expertise to ensure that they benefit from their activities,” he said.

Highlighting the intended activities through the week, the head of partnership development and communication, Sulah Nuwamanya, said farmers will be engaged in debates to hear their point of view on the steps that can be taken to promote them.

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