The private sector has called for professionalisation of the agriculture sector and enhanced mechanisation and technology application to improve the sector and help create more jobs along the agriculture value chain. They are also advocating for market-oriented farming to boost incomes and avoid losses.

This was during the launch of consultations on the country’s fourth five-year Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Agriculture (PSTA4) development process by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources on Friday.

The strategy is due to start in June 2018 when PSTA3, which was developed in 2013, ends.

The president of the Chamber of Rwanda Farmers at the Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF), Christine Murebwayire, said mechanisation and commercial farming are essential to improve agro-production and ensure quality along the value chain.

She said increasing access to inputs like improved seeds or animal breeds; pesticides and insecticides is key, adding that adapting information and communication technologies (ICTs) will ease market access.

"E-services like online marketing and market updates can enable commodity buyers to order for, say Irish potato or wheat while farmers will get market information like prices, via their mobile phones,” she told The New Times in an interview.

"A farmer should not travel from Nyamagabe District, Southern Province with 10 kilogrammes of wheat; or from Nyabihu District with 20 kilogrammes of Irish potato to sell in Kigali; or transport wheat from Burera to sell it in the city, yet they could market the produce easily using ICT-based facilities,” Murebwayire added.

"Therefore, we need professional, market-targeted farming in the next five-year strategy. We must also embrace mechanisation to boost efficiency and production.”

The agriculture sector is the country’s biggest employer, with over 72 per cent of the Rwandan population engaged in farming against 50 per cent target under Vision 2020. The sector contributes a third of the national gross domestic product (GDP).

According to information from the ministry, food and cash crops production has increased under the third phase of the strategic plan. This has helped drive down poverty to 39.1 per cent in 2015 from 44.9 per cent in 2010.

PSTA3 aimed at intensifying and commercialising farming, and achieving an annual agricultural growth of 8.5 per cent annually. However, the agriculture sector has, on average, been expanding at 5 per cent per annum. By embracing modern farming techniques and ICTs, among others, the sector will be able to register targeted growth, create more off-farm jobs and improve household incomes, said Murebwayire.  

According to Rwanda Agriculture Board figures, 20 per cent of farming operations, including land preparation, planting, crop treatment, harvesting, post-harvest handling and agro-processing, have been mechanised and the total cultivated area under mechanisation is 32,000 hectares. The goal was to mechanise 25 per cent of farm activities by 2017.

 Murebwayire called for contract farming, citing tomato growers, arguing that this would cushion farmers against harvest losses and price fluctuations, providing them a ready and reliable market.

What farmers say

Joseph Gafaranga, the secretary general of Imbaraga Farmers’ Organisation, said PSTA has helped improve agriculture productivity, adding that the government’s fertiliser subsidy programme has boosted fertiliser application and significantly output at farm level.

He said his yield increased from about two tonnes per hectare in 2008 to five tonnes currently for the local maize variety, while output for hybrid maize rose to eight tonnes per hectare.

Gafaranga’s Irish potato yields expanded to 33 tonnes per hectare, from between 15 and 18 tonnes per hectare previously.

He called for concerted efforts between farmers, the ministry of agriculture and development partners to ensure efficient water management and use to sustain agricultural productivity around the year particularly during dry spells.

Speaking during the launch of the PSTA4 consultations on Friday, the permanent secretary at the agriculture ministry, Jean Claude Kayisinga, said PSTA3 has recorded ‘remarkable’ progress, with the sector contributing toward poverty reduction and stimulating the country’s economic growth.

Challenges 

However, Kayisinga said professionalisation of the sector and moving from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture were still challenges that needed to be addressed by stakeholders.

He said subsistence farming is risky, adding that farmers lack requisite crop husbandry or handling skills which affects output and quality.

He said post-harvest practices are still low with 83 per cent of farmers storing their production in their own homes instead of warehouses.

Another challenge that needs addressing is agriculture finance where he said that 70 per cent of farmers understand the benefit of getting loans for agriculture purposes, but they also recognise the difficulties in accessing those loans from commercial banks.

Looking ahead

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative to Rwanda, Attaher Maiga said it is good to appreciate the achievements made under the PSTA3, but also take stock of the lessons learnt and shortcomings, and devise ways to address them in the PSTA 4.  Maiga pledged FAO’s support to help enhance the sector’s contribution to the country’s development goals.

He said the strategy should conform with the necessary regional and international requirements to make Rwanda’s agriculture sector attractive to investors.

Albert Rwego, the programme manager at Transparency International, called for farmer empowerment, adding that the new strategy should be farmer-centred.

"When farmers have ownership and accountability in a project, you increase agriculture productivity,” he pointed out.