[{"bbox": [83, 106, 1146, 157], "category": "Text", "text": "agriculture agencies supported by previous EU interventions. Follow up actions would be designed in the latter years of the MIP to consolidate achievements under the action."}, {"bbox": [83, 184, 1146, 236], "category": "Text", "text": "The action will contribute to following expected results, which reflect on main results identified for the agricultural sector in the MIP:"}, {"bbox": [120, 239, 1146, 292], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Increase of decent employment and income in rural areas for farmers, people living in vulnerable situations and in poverty and small and medium enterprises (SMEs)."}, {"bbox": [120, 293, 1012, 319], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Consolidation of inclusive, gender-sensitive and sustainable high-value product value chains."}, {"bbox": [120, 320, 1146, 373], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Improved extension services at local level, including women's access to services and participation in decision-making processes."}, {"bbox": [120, 374, 1097, 400], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Enhanced nutritional status of smallholder's farmers through the promotion of nutritious food-systems."}, {"bbox": [120, 412, 1146, 466], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Enhanced resilience of rural households to climate change and consolidation of climate change-biodiversity co-benefits, following a gender-sensitive approach."}, {"bbox": [120, 466, 1146, 519], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Improved planning, implementation and reporting on climate adaptation measures at both central and local level, following a gender-sensitive approach."}, {"bbox": [83, 545, 1146, 626], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action will primarily contribute to SDG 1 (no poverty), but also to SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 10 (reduced inequality), SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 15 (life on land)."}, {"bbox": [72, 679, 302, 712], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2. RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [248, 742, 383, 770], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 2.1. Context"}, {"bbox": [83, 786, 1146, 999], "category": "Text", "text": "Rwanda has a well-articulated policy framework to guide its developmental aspirations. Rwanda's Vision 2050 identifies the country's overarching objectives to transform its economy and modernise the lives of Rwandans, with the aim to reach upper-middle income status by 2035 and high-income status by 2050. Vision 2050 is anchored on five pillars: i) Human Development, ii) Competitiveness and Integration, iii) Agriculture for wealth creation, iv) Urbanisation and Agglomeration and v) Accountable and Capable State Institutions. The first years of Vision 2050, up to 2024, are operationalised through Rwanda's 7-year plan: The National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), which articulates policy priorities under three key areas: social transformation, economic transformation and transformational governance."}, {"bbox": [83, 1024, 1146, 1158], "category": "Text", "text": "**Agriculture** continues to play a pivotal role in Rwanda's economy. The sector employs more than 70 % of the population and represents almost a quarter of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) (24 % in 2019)¹. Rwanda's Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA 4), outlines the policy framework to transform agriculture towards a knowledge-based value creating sector. The Government strategy recognises that agricultural growth must be private sector driven, with the Government becoming a market enabler as opposed to a market actor."}, {"bbox": [83, 1183, 1146, 1424], "category": "Text", "text": "Rwanda's agriculture sector is still largely characterised by subsistence farming with low productivity, small landholdings, dependence on rainfall, land degradation and soil erosion issues. Despite solid progress since 2000, poverty in Rwanda remains significant, with 56.5 % of the population below the USD 1.90 a day threshold. The strong growth of the Rwandan economy has contributed to improvements in access to services and human development indicators. However, in the last decade this has not translated into commensurate reductions of poverty levels in rural areas, where 90 % of the country's poor live. Achieving poverty reduction would therefore require transforming agriculture from a public sector-led growth model into a more private and market-driven sector with better linkages to urban market areas. A sustainable and climate-resilient approach will be required to underpin progress in agricultural transformation and the green transition."}, {"bbox": [83, 1448, 1146, 1609], "category": "Text", "text": "Increasing rural incomes will need as well an inclusive approach to agriculture, which will require Government to provide quality extension services for all farmers along with an enhanced dialogue with farmer's organisations. More farming households should switch to higher value agricultural commodities such as horticulture, vegetables, poultry, pork and fisheries, for which there are market opportunities in urban areas, in Rwanda as well as in the broader region. A focus on 'feeding the cities' would also require improved safety and sustainability of the overall food systems. The theory of change leading to significant and sustainable poverty reduction in rural areas relies not only on increased"}, {"bbox": [72, 1638, 377, 1662], "category": "Footnote", "text": "1 STATISTA, October 2020."}, {"bbox": [1051, 1663, 1158, 1688], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 30"}]