Ensuring food and job security
during the Covid-19 pandemic in Rwanda

According to the World Food Programme and the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, over one third of the population in Rwanda lived below the poverty line in 2017 and almost 20 per cent of the country’s households were affected by food insecurity in 2018. In addition, chronic malnutrition was a pressing issue as almost four in ten children between 6 and 59 months of age were affected in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic increased the severity of this situation, despite the Rwandan government’s dedicated efforts to sustain agricultural operations.

In Rwanda, food security relied on producing major staple crops. Maize ranked third among major crops, covering large amounts of Rwanda’s cultivated land. By producing and processing maize, Sosoma Industries Ltd. provided safe, high-quality and value-added nutritious food – just what was needed to reduce the negative impact of Covid-19 on food security.

The joint project between Sosoma Industries and Invest for Jobs, that started in November 2020, aimed at improving food security and contributing to the elimination of malnutrition in the country. Facilitating the production of nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable fortified maize flour – locally known as Kawunga – contributed to meeting the nutritional demands of a continuously growing population and counter-act the effects of Covid-19, which reduced wages and led to job losses putting people’s food security even further at risk.

At the same time, the project helped Sosoma Industries preserve and create much needed jobs while increasing the community income of farmers and other workers involved in the maize supply chain

Sosoma Industries received support from Invest for Jobs to introduce a fortified maize flour that meets the nutritional demands of Rwanda’s population – especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. For this, the company automated core production processes. New equipment such as a much-needed drying machine was purchased and newly hired machine operators received specialised training to operate the new machinery.

Farmers in Sosoma Industries’ partner cooperatives also received training. Subjects included grain sampling, grading techniques and quality assurance – key skills to improve the local supply chain and enable farmers to increase their production of maize and soybeans. Overall, the farmers benefited from improved market linkages and a reduction of production losses.

At the other end of the supply chain, Sosoma Industries recruited 11 commercial agents across Rwanda to distribute the produced maize flour. While hiring, priority was given to youth, women and to experienced sales staff who were idle due to Covid-19.

Overall, these measures helped the company to lower its cost of production, enabling it to offer its fortified maize flour at a lower price to Rwanda’s rural population and existing and new institutional buyers, such as non-governmental organisations, hospitals, schools and retailers (through increasing and strengthening selling points).

This project was geared towards supporting Sosoma Industries to enhance the maize supply chain and flour processing, retain its existing employees and create additional jobs within the company and in its supplying farms during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the support of Invest for Jobs, Sosoma Industries was able to increase its production capacity and sales more than fourfold between 2020 and 2022. As a result, Sosoma Industries was able to retain all its 69 employees and hire 8 additional people by the end of the project in December 2022.

The project further contributed to food security in Rwanda through the improvement of the maize flour supply chain: from farmer trainings, to automating production processes and extending the final product’s distribution to remote areas of Rwanda.

This project was implemented by Sosoma Industries Ltd. together with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in context of Invest for Jobs on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).