The Joint Agriculture Sector Review has shown that the land use consolidation policy played a key factor in last year’s growth in the Agricultural sector.

Different stakeholders in the Agriculture sector Thursday met with officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) to evaluate their 2008 activities and focus their plans towards more achievements in 2009.

The meeting convened at Prime Holdings in Kigali was also meant to serve as an opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the implementation of the priority areas in agriculture and animal resources.

The Agriculture sector registered a growth of 15 per cent. Officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources explain that the land use consolidation policy aims at having appropriate crops cultivated in appropriate areas so as to increase the production.

Minister Christophe Bazivamo of Agriculture and Animal Resources said that despite the misconception surrounding its implementation, the policy is successful so far.

"The policy can only increase the production because it is implemented for the common interest,” he said, adding that the more productive it becomes, the more people will put it into practice.

Bazivamo highlighted the importance of the annual sector review, saying it allows all the stakeholders in the agriculture sector to make strong recommendations for improvement in the following year, basing on what they have achieved.

This, according to him, is the only way the agriculture industry, on which more than 80% of the Rwandan population depend, can play its role into the country’s development, as defined in the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS).

"We need to broaden ownership and strengthen partnership with different stakeholders in the sector,” he added.

The Minister however cited some of the challenges that hindered the performance as being the lack of enough fertilisers and seeds (The available capacity could only reach 5% of the total area under cultivation), low performances in animal inseminations, and lack of irrigation infrastructures among others.

MINAGRI Permanent Secretary Ernest Ruzindaza presented different focus areas for 2009 in the agriculture sector, underlining food security and food self-sufficiency, intensification of production and value chain development.

"Areas under cultivation need to be increased,” he said as a way to support the land use consolidation policy and agricultural transformation.

MINAGRI’s stakeholders in the Joint Agriculture Sector Review include World Bank, FAO, different Embassies and institutions like RARDA, ISAR, OCIR The and OCIR Cafe among others.

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