A strategy to increase rural sector access to financial services has been drafted. The national rural insurance strategy was drafted by the Financial Sector Development Secretariat with the help of Ministry of Agriculture. "After assessing the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategic (EDPRS) and Vision 2020, we discovered that the rural community is excluded from access to financial services like credit and insurance,” said François Ngarambe, the Executive Secretary, Financial Sector Development Programme in the ministry of Finance and Planning.

Ngarambe who was speaking at the stake holders meeting at Serena- Kigali hotel yesterday added that this strategy has been built around three pillars. They include life insurance, health insurance and agriculture insurance. If approved by the cabinet, Ngarambe said the strategic plan should be implemented in the next six years.

"It is designed to indicate that there is a market and insurance opportunities in villages for insurers,” he said.

It has also been discovered that often the small agriculturists are not well served by the financial institutions because they are perceived to be costly and risky in terms of insurance and credit, meaning provision of insurance in Rwanda is purely urban.

Rural population in Rwanda is mostly involved in farming and the farmers face many risks such as drought, floods, and unpredictable climate changes, soil erosion and crop disease.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, James Musoni said that the rural market is dominated by the Micro Finance Institutions which are not adequate to boost production and increase exports.

Life insurance is therefore said to be ideal because life events can not be easily manipulated and are generally uncorrelated and financial consequences of death are substantial particularly for the poor.

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