The Government has committed to increasing meat production and quality through an intensive cattle and goat production scheme on 4,500 hectares of land in Gako in Bugesera District.

During a tour of the Gako Beef Integrated Project on Thursday, the Minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources, Geraldine Mukeshimana, and the Minister for Defence, James Kabarebe, commended the project’s progress and called for speeding up of the construction of infrastructure.

Accompanied by Gen. Fred Ibingira, the chief of Reserve Forces and Maj Gen. Jean-Bosco Kazura, the commandant of Rwanda Military Academy in Gako, the two ministers toured the abattoir which is due for completion by October; the access road projected to be completed by December; and the farming area.

Mukeshimana said the project aims at producing high quality meat for local consumption and export.

"This is a joint project involving different ministries, including those of agriculture, defense and infrastructure, among others.  We are jointly laying ground for private investors to take over the project,” she said.

According to Mukeshimana, preparing the project’s site will cost over Rwf3.5 billion to cover 39 kilometres of electricity connectivity and water supply.

"The Government has so far injected about Rwf2.5 billion for mainly road construction and demarcating the lots for different investors. Today, we have an interested company which is operating on 1,500 hectares, but the tender is still open to other investors. We are looking for investors to have this project fully operational within a maximum period of two-and-a-half years,” she said.

Maj Moses Kayigamba, the chief executive of Agro-processing Trust Corporation (APTC), said the modern abattoir, which has a section for cattle and another for goats, will cost Rwf300 million, and will have the capacity to slaughter 20 cows per hour.

Kabarebe urged APTC to avoid torturing animals on their way to abattoirs, which, he said, affects meat quality.

Kayigamba said his company has started rearing hybrids with a target to have 3,000 cows on the farm by 2018, while their entire projection is 10,000 cows.

"We are rearing 973 cows and 927 goats. We want to increase our livestock fast for our abattoir to start operating by October. We are also going to import young hybrids to fatten them in our feedlots,” he said.

Maj Kayigamba said each of their Brahman hybrids in feedlots is gaining 45 kilogrammes per month, and a hybrid bull from Netherlands has grown by 300 kilogrammes within three months.

According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s  requirements on per capita consumption, Rwandan animal production remains insufficient.

Rwanda Agriculture Board’s statistics of 2014 indicate that meat consumption stands at 5.6kg per capita per year, while FAO standards require 30kg. The country targets to increase production to 410,808 tonnes by 2017 from 76,830 tonnes in 2014.