The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board has launched a new project to enhance the digital skills and innovation capabilities to foster agri-preneurship among youth and women in Rwanda.

“This project is coming in addressing first of all the critical challenge we are having in terms of digital skills, but secondly it’s also coming to target more than 50 percent of our population which is women and youth. They are very active, they are contributing a lot in the agriculture sector and with them being educated on digital-related aspects we believe that it is going to bring a very big change in Agriculture sector and Rwanda in general,” said Diane Sayinzoga, Head of Special Economic Zones and Export Facilitation Department at Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

“There is an African proverb I like. It says if you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go far go together. In order to achieve the digital transformation, we need to work together. FAO is delighted to work with various partners and we are happy to work with Rwanda Development Board on this project,” Officer-in-Charge, Office of Innovation, Beth Crawford said.

Increasing young agri-preneurs

About 70 percent of Rwandans are engaged in Agriculture. The sector employs around 66 percent of the working population. The agricultural sector accounts for 26 percent of the national GDP and Young people in Rwanda constitute more than 40 percent of the entire population. However, a big percentage of young Rwandans have not yet embraced agribusiness regarding being one of the most beneficial profession.

“Youth like innovations, new ways of doing things, using electronic gadgets, interacting online actually they like a business that keeps them connected. We need to make sure that we introduce all that digital approaches they prefer along the food chain, from farm to table. Therefore, if we successfully implement this project we will be immensely contributing to achieving zero hunger for present and future, Leaving No One Behind,” FAO Representative, Gualbert Gbehounou said.