Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis 2006.

After a decade of rapid and sustained economic growth, Rwanda has made significant progress toward rebuilding after the devastating 1994 genocide. Still, it remains one of Africa’s poorest countries and the majority of the population (60 percent) lives below thepoverty line. Per capita income, even when adjusted for purchasing power parity, has yet to reach its 1990 levels. Population and Household Living Conditions Study (EICV) survey data from 2001 suggest that over 70 percent of the rural population is considered to be food poor; 45 percent of children aged 6–59 months are stunted and 3.9 percent are wasted. Thus, it is evident that there is still a need to address structural causes of food insecurity; including low agricultural productivity, increased population pressure on land, soil erosion, malfunctioning markets, spread of diseases and epidemics, as well as, the longstanding effect of conflict/genocide, which has increased human vulnerability.

It is against this background that the World Food Program (WFP) proposed to undertake a national Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) with the objective of measuring the extent and depth of food insecurity and vulnerability, and identifying the underlying causes. The study is intended to inform relevant decision-making processes to mitigate food crises and increase food security. This report presents the results of the analysis of three sources of data: collection of quantitative primary data from 2,806 households selected nationwide to be representative at a sub-provincial level (food economy zones); collection of qualitative primary data; and secondary information (literature review).

The purpose of this Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) is to provide an accurate baseline and understanding of chronic food insecurity and vulnerability conditions in rural Rwanda, and how best to respond to them. It seeks to identify the population and location of people vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition, highlight causes and determine necessary interventions and priority areas that can reduce their vulnerability and support their livelihood.

This will help to develop and target programme activities toward those who most need them (profiles) in the most effective way (intervention). It will further support the development of a monitoring and evaluation system by establishing a baseline against which to measure post-shock changes.

Food security exists when "all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life10". It is understood as a multidimensional function of:

1. food availability: the amount of food physically available to a household (micro level) or at the national level (macro);
2. food access: the physical (e.g. road network, market) and economical (e.g. own production, exchange, purchase) ability of a household to acquire adequate amounts of food; and
3. food utilization: the intra-household use of the food accessible and the individual's ability to absorb and use nutrients (e.g. function of health
   status).

Vulnerability is "the probability of an acute decline in food access, or consumption, often in reference to some critical value that defines minimum levels of human well-being". It is a function of:

1. exposure to risk: the probability of an event that, if it did materialize, would cause a welfare loss (e.g. drought); and
2. risk management: the ability to mitigate the possible consequences of a probable event. This can in turn be divided into ex-ante risk manageme (preparedness) and ex-post risk management (ability to cope). The ability to cope is the response after an event occurred; it can be negative and affect the resource base of the household, such as the selling of assets, or positive (non-negative response such as migration). The ability to cope is undermined by the intensity of the event itself but also by poor structural and societal conditions such as poverty.