Firms engaged in the processing of poultry and piggery products are set to benefit from support by the National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA) to acquire better equipment to improve competitiveness and productivity.
The same support will also see firms engaged in the production of animal feeds for livestock segments of piggery and poultry supported to ensure that the livestock in the two value chains has locally produced affordable and competitive feeds.
NIRDA on Thursday launched the 2020-2021 Open Calls Programme that seeks to benefit four selected value chains in both the agriculture and urbanization sector, the latter covering the stone value chain for construction materials.
The initiative has been funded by the Enabel, the Belgium Development Agency.
The Open Calls programme seeks to address technological and technical barriers in the selected value chains hence boosting their productivity and competitiveness, according to Olivier Kamana, the Head of Applied Research and Development and Foresight Incubation Department at NIRDA.
"Supporting firms engaged in the piggery, poultry, and animal feeds by leveraging advanced technology will improve the competitiveness and productivity of various products through a diversified modern technology given the market demand of respective processed products,” Kamana said.
Why the support
According to technology audit carried out by NIRDA in the piggery value chain, there is lack of access to pig breeding and artificial insemination techniques coupled with lack of transport and storage facilities for pig and poultry products.
There is also lack of standard slaughter facilities as there are only two currently licensed facilities as well as lack of pig meat processing and packaging machines.
The piggery value chain is also hampered by limited technical and human resources capacity for pork processing, lack of machinery from stunning to storage, lack of proper waste disposal and cold chain technologies among others.
The poultry value chain, according to the tech audit reports has issues in poultry housing standards depending on climatic conditions, technologies to increase poultry production and automated poultry meat processing and packaging technologies.
There is also a lack of poultry products, cold chain and transportation systems, and technologies in egg processing, technology to enhance hatching capacity while the use of manual feed distribution also remains a challenge.
The separate technology audit report revealed that farmers in the poultry and piggery farming can hardly afford quality and enough animal feeds.
The report shows there is low quality of animal feeds, informal production of animal feeds, lack of alternative proteins and carbohydrates used in animal feed production among others.
The animal feeds value chain also lacks an automated production system, laboratory for quality testing and analysis and modern inputs storage facility.
Eligibility criteria for the support
Applicants in the piggery value chain should be firms registered with Rwanda Development Board or Rwanda Cooperative Agency and have at least one year in the piggery value chain with a proof of operation and sufficient workplace.
Individual farmers ready to register should also apply for support.
Businesses in the poultry value chain must also be registered with Rwanda Development Board (RDB) or Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA) and with two years in operation as well as employing at least five people gender inclusive.
Youth cooperatives and companies are highly encouraged to apply in the poultry sector, NIRDA says.
Those in the poultry value chain must also have sufficient workplace for technology applied for and be ready to manage the project and demonstrate openness to sharing business financial information.
Applicants in the animal feed value chain must have been operational for at least one year in the animal feed processing industry and must employ at least five people together with sufficient workspace and operating on legally adequate plots.
In order to apply, the applicant must fill an application form http://opencalls.nirda.gov.rw/. Once this is approved, the applicant is invited to submit a full project application.
Applicants may call hotline 1055 or visit www.nirda.gov.rw should they need more information. The deadline for application is November 30th 2020.
Selected firms will acquire a repayable interest-free loans and will not need any collateral. The support is chanelled through the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) according to officials.
They will also benefit from cost-free technical and business development services to support the growth of their businesses and thus improve production and management.
The package will also include training of the entreprise's staff and management on the best technology, quality production processes and business and marketing strategies.
Jean-Claude Shirimpumu, the representative of the pig farmers association said lack of modern pig slaughterhouses affects quality of meat and income of farmers.
"The Open Calls support is welcome as we need quality animal feeds, modern abattoirs, breeding and insemination techniques, we are optimistic that the upgraded equipment and other support by NIRDA will address those challenges,” he said.
Under the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), which is also the 7 Years Government program in its economic transformation pillar, the government seeks to accelerate inclusive economic growth and development founded on the private sector as the drive.
NST1 underlines, among others the need to create 214,000 decent and productive jobs annually and at promoting industrialisation and attaining a structural shift in the export base to high-value goods and services with the aim of growing exports by 17% annually.