The Private Sector Federation (PSF), through its chamber of agriculture, has started a campaign to link Eastern Province farmers to markets.The coordination will be done in conjunction with a Dutch-funded project, "Linking farmers to markets (Lifam).”Jean Munyemana, the chairperson of the agriculture chamber, said linking farmers to markets was critical to rural development and efforts to ensure country’s food security.Addressing farmers and private sector leaders on Monday, Munyemana said time was ripe to confront inefficiencies in farming business.PSF seeks to address issues of transportation, information services, credit, crop storage and other market challenges that affect Rwandan farmers, he said.Munyemana added that PSF and Lifam would embrace agriculture-oriented market improvements as crucial to not only avoiding future food crises, but also for establishing a concrete foundation for rural development and economic growth."There are many things we can do to improve market conditions in Rwanda, to increase food availability and help stabilise food prices across the country,” he said.Empowering farmersDr Livingstone Byamungu, the Lifam national coordinator, called for farmers to be empowered to be competitive in all business areas.He said lack of credit limited the ability of farmers to produce and sell more food, noting that the programme would allow farmers to get credit using the deposited grain as collateral."They can use the credit to purchase such things as farm inputs for the next planting season or meet immediate cash requirements. Credit is crucial for expanding production on farms,” Dr Byamungu said."Lifam is working with commercial banks to unlock millions of Rwanda francs in loans for smallholder farmers across the country. Farmers should also be able to add value to the crops,” he added.Gahiga Gashumba, a farmer in Nyagatare District, said the initiative was timely."Farming is affected by lack of access to loans to buy inputs; the available loans have high interest rates, short grace periods and expertise, so, we need a change,” he said.Jean Marie Makombe, the executive secretary of the province, challenged farmers and businesspersons to modernise their activities."At least 42 per cent of farmers are still living below poverty line in our province, which is only second to Kigali. We need to professionalise farming to reverse the trend,” he said.