GMO head calls for gender equality in agriculture

The Chief Gender Monitor, Oda Gasingizwa, has urged local authorities to promote gender equality in the agricultural sector.Gasinzigwa made the call yesterday during a validation workshop on gender responsive service delivery in the sector.The workshop was organised by Gender Monitoring office (GMO) in partnership with UN Women in Rwanda.“Providing gender responsive service delivery in the agricultural sector is one of the factors that will enable our country achieve agricultural transformation in an effective and sustainable manner,” Gasinzigwa observed.She said that gender responsive issues in service delivery should be taken into consideration in all agricultural processes including policy, planning and implementation. According to Gasinzigwa, more than 80 percent of Rwandan farmers are women, adding that it was imperative for all the agricultural programmes to account for their needs to improve their welfare socially and economically and improve the country’s economy.She noted that there is a need to sensitise women in a more organised manner, pointing out that her institution would collaborate with the National Women’s Council (CNF) to help farmers, especially women, clearly understand how best to participate in the agricultural sector.“By improving service delivery in an agricultural gender perspective, we are focusing on making sure that all the farmers, both women and men, have equal access to the available opportunities in this sector because it will help the country achieve sustainable development,” Gasinzigwa asserted.The Vice Mayor of Nyaruguru District in charge of Finance and Economic Affairs, Fabien Niyitegeka, who also attended the workshop, said that mindset is one of the major challenges still facing gender mainstreaming in the sector calling on government institutions and other concerned stakeholders to train the population about the importance of gender equality in the agricultural sector.Eugene Rutabagaya, the Programme Coordinator of, Gender and Democracy Governance at UNWOMEN, said: “The agricultural sector is the most important economic sector generating over 35 percent of the country’s GDP, and over 80 percent of employment opportunities, but in contrast, women involved in the sector still face a lot of challenges such as limited access to land and finance”.