Rwanda |
The Afministry of
agriculture and animal resources has said a five year business plan to
benefit 360,000 farmers with an estimated budget of $25m, presented by
the Alliance for a Green Revolution in rica (AGRA), will help to fill in
agricultural yield gaps and boost the agricultural growth rate from
5.8% per year to 8.5%.
Tony Nsanganira,
the State Minister for agriculture in Minagri, made the announcement at a
consultative meeting to refine the plan for 2016-2020.
"We need
modernization to move from subsistence agriculture to commercial
activity, to increase incomes in rural areas and reduce poverty, and
this plan will help achieve this. We have to make sure there is no
duplication of efforts and enhance coordination. We must tap into
existing gaps by looking at what we achieved and the way forward. This
plan is part of a new policy we are developing", Nsanganira said.
The agricultural
sector contributes to over 33%, or an estimated $4,377m, of Rwanda's
GDP, while employing over 4.95 million of people. Approximately 10.2% of
the national budget goes into the sector.
However, despite
the progress yields of major crops remain below potential with yield
gaps of 76% in Irish potatoes, 72% in beans, 61% in maize, 64% in
cassava and 36% in rice due to limited use of mechanization and modern
agricultural practices.
According to Emime
Ndihokubwayo, the representative of AGRA in Rwanda, the solution lies in
strengthening the private sector's role in providing enhanced
agricultural inputs such as better seeds and fertilizers, innovative
finance, modern agronomic practices, improvement of post-harvest
handling technology, linkage to markets, and others.
"We had previously
invested $11.5m with 22 grants in Rwanda for different activities such
as seeds, agro-dealership development, fertilizers, land issues, access
to market and others. From this year we are investing $6.5m in the
agriculture inputs sector, and $10.5m in private-public partnerships in
value chain development", she said.
Ndihokubwayo added
that another $2.2m will be invested in enhancing access to markets by
reducing post-harvest losses through storage facilities, $3.1m in
financial access and inclusion by helping in designing financial
products including insurance products, as well as $1.3m to support the
government in attracting private investment.
The AGRA plan
estimates that losses during and after harvesting amount to 25-30% of
all crops produced, and by facilitating post-harvest management
opportunities and access to markets, it hopes to close yield gaps for
500,000 farmers and ensure 50 % sell through structured markets by 2020.
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