More than 3 000 women leaders of farming co-operatives in Rwanda are being furnished with smartphones so they are more easily able to collect agriculture data and share it with other farmers.

The New Times reports that the project is part of the RwandaConnect initiative launched by the Ministry of ICT and Innovation in 2019 to equip vulnerable households with smartphones.

According to ICT and Innovation Minister Paula Ingabire, women make up more than 60% of the Rwandan agricultural workforce and ‘women in agriculture should be placed at the centre of this [digital] transformation’.

Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources Gerardine Mukeshimana says the ability to access and share information easily would ‘help them to improve their agricultural activities’.

RwandaConnect aims to ensure every household in the country has at least one smartphone.

6 April 2021
Image: 2018, SPARK.ngo