Members of Parliament (MPs) have lauded the country’s achievements in the agriculture sector and also urged the government to help ease farmers’ access to bank loans.

The MPs were speaking in Parliament, yesterday, while reacting to a presentation made by Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi, that highlighted the country’s achievements in the agriculture sector over the last five years.

From increasing productivity and diversifying crops, to investments in food processing, the agriculture sector has seen tremendous development over the last five years, the Premier said.

He said the value of agricultural productivity increased from slightly over Rwf1 trillion in 2010 to Rwf1.7 trillion in 2014, which was a 65 per cent increase.

The government increased the agriculture budget from slightly over Rwf90 billion in 2013/14 financial year to more than Rwf102 billion in the current financial year.

Milk production was increased from 372,619 tonnes in 2010 to 706,030 tonnes in 2015, which is a rise of 89 per cent in milk production.

The increase in milk production is attributed to the fact that more farmers are rearing cows as a result of the One-cow-per-Family programme, through which some 222,539 families were given cows, out of the targeted 350,000 families by 2017.

Increase in milk production has also helped to reduce malnutrition in the country as farmers consume the milk produced by the cows and give it to their children, the prime minister noted.

Overall, the MPs commended government on improving the agriculture sector, but they called for improved access to bank loans by farmers, which they said would help to make the sector more profitable.

The premier said only 7.4 per cent of all the loans given by banks and microfinance institutions in the country was invested in agriculture, a rate that remains low given the government’s target of increasing it to 18 per cent by 2017.

Loans for business growth

Several MPs urged the government to do its best to increase access to loans for farmers, explaining that it is the only way they can grow their businesses and make them more professional.

Some of them, like MP Marie Thérèse Murekatete, urged the government to "talk to banks so they can have special funds to finance agriculture”.

"Agriculture is likely to be a respected profession in the future and it’s hard for any professional business to develop without using loans,” she said.

Others such as Juvenal Nkusi and Gaston Rusiha suggested that an agriculture development bank be established to give special loans to farmers, who currently comprise 72 per cent of the country’s population.

Responding to the issue of extending loans to farmers, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Amb. Claver Gatete, said the government’s efforts to help the farmers will be channelled through the Development Bank of Rwanda, the Business Development Fund, and a cooperative bank that will be set up to manage all the country’s Savings and Credit Cooperatives in sectors, commonly known as Umurenge Saccos.

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