Editor,

RE: "New campaign to scale up irrigation farming” (The New Times, June 7).

Agriculture is the way forward toward industrial revolution because it provides needed raw materials and food. Agriculture revolution must therefore be targeted in order to achieve industrial revolution.

The move by the Government of Rwanda to subsidize farming inputs shall spur farming outputs evidently. What is fundamental is to mobilize farmers to produce what the market requires and not what they require. This will finish the notion of producing what we don’t consume and consume what we don’t produce.

For instance, we may engage our farmers into producing tomatoes into tonnes because we can establish a small tomato industry and make tomato sauce instead of importing. We can mobilize farmers to produce vegetables in large scale because we can assure them the availability of home and external markets.

However, to achieve this, we must be able to remain environmental friendly. Rivers crossing at farmlands should be protected at any cost. Protect them from oil pollution and other human caused catastrophes like farming from the source of the river.

I have noticed from Kirehe remoteness area where rice farmers are carrying large scale farming into the marshlands to a point that have limited river flows. If this isn’t looked into, it could hurt the small scale irrigation and ultimately kill agriculture revolution.