Rwanda Standards Boards (RSB) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) to reinforce standards in commodity trade within the region.

Dr Marc Cyubahiro Bagabe, the RSB director-general, said reinforcing grain standards will improve commodity value chain and promote interlinkages between grain stakeholders among the East African Community (EAC) partner states.

"The partnership will help upgrade value addition in this sector and bring in economies of scale. In Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda, warehousing standards are in place but there is a challenge of lack of warehouses that meet the requirements,” Bagabe said after the signing in Kigali on Tuesday.

Gerald Makau Masila, the executive director of the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC), said the MoU will help foster linkages between players in the grain sector within EAC partner states, which he said would improve grain value chain.

"There is a need for linkages to ensure that we have well-structured grain trade. The grain value chain would improve if only people involved with the sector worked more closely and abided by standards requirements,” he said.

EAGC, a not-for-profit that prepares, disseminates, and promotes the exchange of information on matters affecting regional grain industry, also signed similar agreements with Uganda and Kenya.

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