Isaac Nzabalinda owns a five-hectare Irish potato plantation in Musanze District. His production has been growing over the years and he feels it is time to expand horizons.

Also a member of the Rwanda Federation of Irish Potato farmers (Fecoporwa), Nzabalinda longs for the day the East African Community (EAC) will harmonise laws governing cooperatives.

Currently, the East African Legislative Assembly’s standing committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources is collecting views from different cooperatives and federations within the Community to formulate the EAC Cooperative Societies Bill 2014.

The Bill seeks to strengthen cooperative societies and harmonise legislation on cooperatives to provide for a standard operational mode applicable in all member states.

"We want to create synergies with our fellow farmers from the other partner countries but for that to happen we need to have a hormonised law,”  Nzabalinda said.

The Bill, which was moved by Uganda’s Eala representative Mike Ssebalu, was approved by the Assembly in January during its first reading in Kampala.

The Assembly later forwarded it to the standing committee for scrutiny, but for the committee to ensure that the draft law accommodates all views of cooperatives in the bloc, they are conducting consultative meetings with federations in all partner states.

Members of the committee were in Rwanda on Monday and met with several representatives of local cooperatives and federations so that they could have their views incorporated.

Nzabalinda told The New Times that he had toured several EAC partner states and realised that working in isolation limits their market and leads to reduced profits.”

Once the Bill becomes law,  it will help transform the cooperative sector and grow the countries’ economies, according to experts.

Patrick Ruseruka, the chairperson of Rwanda Federation of Wheat Cooperatives, said; "We import more than we export which leads to balance of payment deficit. Sharing with our neighbours will help offset this deficit.”

The chairperson of Eala’s committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources, Isabelle Ndahayo, said the views collected from Rwanda will be scrutinised by the committee and tabled before the Assembly for consideration.

"National laws for cooperatives do not facilitate cross-border trade. This Bill seeks to empower  local cooperatives,” she said.

Eala MP for Rwanda Christophe Bazivamo said the Bill will have to be signed by all five Presidents of EAC countries if it is to become law.

"After that, some of the national laws will have to be amended to align with the East African Community Cooperative Societies Bill, 2014 provisions,” he said.

The Director of Legal, Social and Political Affairs at the Ministry of EAC affairs, Jean Pierre Niyitegeka, said the proposed law aims at giving EAC citizens a common destiny.

"It would be easier for cooperatives to  mobilise resources and share experiences if they are guided by the same legislation,” he said.