Umuganura is a Rwandan cultural festival in which family and friends gather and share the harvest. It includes celebrating the start of the harvest within each community across all the 60 plus agricultural value chains in Rwanda.
It is a unique practice that dates from over a thousand years. It provides Rwandans with a valuable opportunity to reflect on the positive values of their culture and to celebrate their achievements in agriculture and other sectors of the economy.
Indeed, Umuganura provides an opportunity to understand that Rwanda has achieved great milestones in recent decades, especially in the areas of agriculture and nutrition. These two areas stand out as one of the most strategic and important sectors that play a key role in enhancing Rwanda’s socioeconomic development and resilience.
As shown by national statistics, the agriculture sector employs about 70% of the total population and contributes over 31% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This implies that it represents a promising business area, especially for youth, women, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Increasing the commitment and resulting investment in the agriculture sector by the government, NGOs, and private sector offers the possibility that these groups can generate increased income and better nutrition outcomes, which in my view is one of the main objectives of Umuganura celebration in the first place.
In this context, it is clear to observers in this area that the nutritional status of children has improved since 2000 with declines in stunting, wasting, and underweight. But there is still work to do. According to the Rwanda Demographic Health Survey (RDHS) of 2019-2020, only 22% of children aged 6-23 months living with their mothers were fed a minimum acceptable diet during the previous day.
The RDHS survey also showed just 34% of children had an adequately diverse diet in which they had been given foods from at least 5 out of 8 food groups. This is important because children should be fed a minimum acceptable diet to ensure appropriate growth and development because without adequate food diversity and meal frequency, infants and young children are vulnerable to malnutrition effects, especially stunting and micronutrient deficiencies.
As we celebrate Umuganura, it is important for all citizens of Rwanda, but especially parents, to understand how to diversify family meals with nutritious foods in order to feed their children adequately.
We should also understand, all of us, the role of the country’s private sector in contributing to children’s sustainable growth and development.
We should all take special note during the cultural festival that there is a need to increase the availability of nutritious food in the country, and that women and children should especially have access to nutritious food, and thus have at least three recommended meals per day.
This can only be made possible by the agriculture sector. Let us all use Umuganura as an opportunity to reflect on this message and redouble our collective efforts to assist all Rwandan agricultural actors to produce more, earn more income, and consume more nutritious food.
The author is a nutritionist.