Adopted in 2015, the SDGs call for major transformations in agriculture and food systems in order to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition by 2030 (SDG 2). Vegetables are one of the most important parts of balanced diet. However, in some parts of the world, their farming is facing some difficulties. This is also evident in Rwanda, where in many localities and countryside vegetables are lacking, not because they cannot be grown, but because of the problems in their gardening. The district of Rubavu located in the Western Province of the country is some of the areas where they can harvest vegetables that can feed many Rwandans if their good agriculture practices are well applied. Unfortunately, it is not the case.

This is now the preoccupation of Rwanda Consumer Rights Association - ADECOR, RIKOLTO International SON and Kilimo Trust Rwanda that work in close collaboration in assuring food systems sustainability in cities throughout inputs to outputs markets in financing, technical and managerial best practices; policy and legal actions, awareness and entrepreneurship support, production, harvesting and post-harvesting systems as well as responsible consumption.

Paul Mbonyi, Project technical lead at ADECOR, said that, through the project " Good Food for Cities project (GF4Cs), a 5-years initiative (2022-2026) implemented in Rubavu district (with potential upscaling to other Districts), they aim at sustainable food production, inclusive markets and enabling environment in the horticulture value chain.

“We want the farmers to practice farming professionally, get enough produces and easily access markets and socioeconomically develop themselves. This requires that farmers get good quality inputs, apply good agriculture practices to increase their production in quantity and quality and be able to sell at the right price. Improving production and selling at a good price requires an inclusive and favourable policy and regulations framework. There is also a need for agriculture’s related policies implementers especially at local level and conduct an advocacy near agriculture policies makers institutions such as MINAGRI, RAB, NAEB... for making those policies inclusive for all": He said,

He added that the project Good Food for Cities is funded by the Belgium Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) through RIKOLTO International SON.
Vegetable growers suffer under heavy burden Before ADECOR and Kilimo Trust started helping these vegetables farmers in Rubavu district they were having difficulties in their agriculture. Although they are not over yet, there is hope that they will be resolved.

Some of the problems raised by these farmers include how to get good quality and timely seeds. Valens Kanani, is one of the most important vegetables farmers working in Rubavu District. He said: "We find the seeds late or we find them out of date, so they cannot produce the result we want". Besides, this farmer continues to highlight the problem of expensive agriculture inputs such as seeds and fertilizers and pesticides.

In addition to this problem, there are also cases where the farmers do not find adequate markets that immediately carry out all the production, requiring them to go to the regular markets. "Once we harvest, we don’t have buyers who buy from us, so we have to resort to regular markets where we stand on the vegetables waiting for buyers, and it could even lead to their damage”, said a farmer named Innocent.

Regarding the issue of the market, a farmer named Jerome Iradukunda says that the farmers work in a disordered manner, so that sometimes they grow one thing and the production is high and there is no market. As for this challenge, there is the fact that the farmers themselves cannot agree on the price at which they will sell their production, but each one agrees with the individual buyer, which makes them sell cheaper.

Other issues they identified include access to high-yielding quality seeds, cold rooms for vegetables as well as proper marketing methods. A farmer, Jerome Iradukunda, said, "Vegetable sellers are still selling in the old way. They use baskets and buckets instead of scales and in transport they use trucks to carry stones and sand, which makes them reach the market with damaged produce so that they only sell 70% of it." And to that, Innocent adds the slight fluctuation of prices. Another thing is that they do not have the means to add value to their produce, such as carrots.

Threats to their production.

These problems and other unmentioned ones that threaten those vegetables farmers lead to other problems related to local markets in Rwanda and this make farmers discouraged to grow vegetables in the following seasons as reported by Bonnke Safari, Regional Coordinator of Rikolto International SON in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo when talking about the problem of the lack of vegetables in cities.

According to AGRICULTURAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY 2020 REPORT published in December 2021, among vegetable growers, amaranths emerged as the top vegetable type produced by 43.7 percent of agricultural households, followed by cabbage (30.1 percent), tomato (25.6 percent), egg plants (24.2 percent) and carrots (14.6 percent). Rwanda 2021 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis indicates that only 25% of children between 6 and 23 months could be served balanced food with vegetables and fruits.

According to sepcialists in nutrition, fruit and vegetables are an essential part of any balanced diet because they bring so much to the table in terms of nutritional value. In general, fruit and vegetables are rich in various vitamins and minerals that offer a wide range of health benefits.They go on saying that importance of fruit is also due to their high levels of fibre, which promotes good digestive health. Fruit and vegetables are also low in calories, which means they are good for all types of diets, particularly ones designed to promote weight loss.