Kigali, 03 April 2023: As provided for by the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, Prime Minister, Dr. Edouard Ngirente, presented to the Rwandan Parliament, both Chambers, Government of Rwanda’s actions related to de-risking agricultural value chains to increase production.

In his presentation, Prime Minister started by showing the status of the agriculture sector at global, regional and national levels.

Particularly, the Premier revealed that during the implementation of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), the agriculture export revenues increased from 515,859,392 USD$ in the financial year 2017/2018 to 640,952,297 U$D in the financial year 2021/2022, which implies a growth of 24.2%.

Prime Minister also elaborated on Government interventions in addressing challenges that the agriculture sector is facing today. These include the issue of availability and affordability of agricultural inputs (seeds and fertilizers), insufficient knowledge and skills in modern agriculture, low agricultural investments, post-harvest wastage, climate and disease-related challenges among others.

Moreover, Prime Minister presented to the Parliament key four projects that the Government is implementing to improve the agricultural production and address the issue food security.

He mentioned the five-year FRW 300 Bn project dubbed  Commercialization and De-Risking for Agricultural Transformation Project (CDAT). This project is expected to address issues like insufficient agriculture funding, lack of insurance and proper irrigation practices. In this project, farmers will get loans at an interest rate of as low as 8%.

The second project is Nyagatare Powder Milk Factory. The Premier said that the factory will have the capacity to process 650,000 liters per day and the Government is encouraging farmers to increase milk production in order to supply sufficient milk to the factory that will start production in June this year.

The third project is Gabiro Agribusiness Hub, which started in 2020 and is aimed at enhancing value chains to support market-oriented agriculture.

The Premier informed the Parliament that this project is being implemented on 15,600 hectares of irrigated areas in Nyagatare and Gatsibo districts. The project is expected to provide thousands of jobs, mostly for youth.

The fourth project is Gako Beef Integrated Project that is being implemented in Bugesera District. The Premier noted that the Government initiated this project in order to increase quality meat production for local and export markets.

He concluded his presentation by reiterating the Government of Rwanda’s commitment to keep on de-risking the agriculture sector and ensure there is increased agricultural production and food security.

Click here to read the full presentation of the Prime Minister.