A new training programme in agriculture mechanisation and irrigation technology to equip farmers with modern practices has been launched at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) South.

Speaking during the launch last Friday, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Tony Nsanganira, said "As long as we want jobs that can develop our country, it is understandable that we will continue to put efforts in skills development.”

The programme is spearheaded by the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) and the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB). 

Sixty people have been receiving the training – 30 in agriculture mechanisation and 30 in irrigation technology at IPRC South since October 14.

The trainees are representatives of various agriculture cooperatives and will receive training for three months.

Importance

Nsanganira said the irrigation programme is one of the many areas that the government  has invested in as a response to climate change.

He said, so far, about 40,000 hectares of land in the country are being irrigated thanks to government efforts.

There are about 600,000 hectares that need irrigating, which calls for more efforts, according to the minister.

He said agriculture mechanisation, which started in 2009, has proven profitable in ensuring good agricultural  practices. 

Nsanganira said the tonnage of production per hectare has been increasing. In the last eight years, a crop intensification programme was initiated to bolster agriculture, which coincided with the land use consolidation programme.

He said the trainees were expected to train other farmers.

Papias Malimba Musafiri, the Minister for Education,  said his ministry was supporting training in agriculture programmes intended to equip farmers with skills in mechanisation and irrigation technology on a short-term basis.  

He said as long as technical and vocational education and training (TVET)  system continues to promote skills in the farming sector, which employs more than 70% of Rwandans, it will undoubtedly provide a strong contribution to building the country’s economy.

 Alphonse Ndamage from Huye District has been trained in irrigation technology under the programme.

He said the skills are helpful for the promotion of agriculture.

"We grow rice in a marshland. But I did not know that we can grow other crops like vegetables in the upland during the dry season. Now I have skills to irrigate  crops during the dry season and we will be able to make use of the land which used to lay idle during that period,” he said.

Nsanganira said the country’s economy in the last 10 years has grown at a rate of between 7 per cent and 8 per cent, noting that agriculture has played a big role as it grew on the rate of between 5 to 6 per cent in the same period.

Under the EDPRS II, the government targets to register agriculture growth of 8.5 per cent.