AGRICULTURAL REHABILITATION AND FOOD INSECURITY IN POSTWAR RWANDA - ASSESSING NEEDS DESIGNING SOLUTIONS

Early comments on the impact of the conflict on Rwanda's food producti on capacity claimed that the loss of harvests and seeds was virtually total. Almost instantaneously, it was revealed that a solution existed : the 'Seeds of Hope' programme, a long-term international solution pr oposed by CGIAR through which crop production and biodiversity would b e quickly restored. The restoration would prove far less expensive tha n long-term dependency on food aid. This article critiques the portray al of Rwanda's agricultural devastation and offers an alternative read ing. Based on research carried out on behalf of Save The Children, UK, it presents a more nuanced picture of the food and agricultural situa tion in the immediate aftermath of the 1994 war and genocide. This alt ernative reading highlights determinants of food availability overlook ed in the Popular portrayal of starvation and ecological calamity. Att ention is paid to ecological variations within Rwanda, the differentia l impact caused by war and internal night, farmer resourcefulness, and the 'longevity' of certain field crops not harvested on time. Immedia tely following the end of war, the international community failed to a ppreciate the diversity of conditions inside Rwanda's food production sector. Available seed supplies were never investigated, nor was the d ifferential impact the war had had on and within Rwanda's prefectures understood. This lack oi a proper needs assessment enabled the interna tional aid world to 'package' Rwanda as a country whose devastated agr iculture could not recover without the kind of technical, apolitical i ntervention the West (CGLAR) had in mind. With media assistance, CGLAR persisted with its narrative for several months despite the emergence of clear counter evidence.