The government will purchase 26,000 tonnes of rice that lacked buyers, and distribute it for the national school feeding programme, as a means to protect farmers from losses, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ildephonse Musafiri, has said.

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"We took a decision that the Government of Rwanda, through the company EAX (East Africa Exchange), looks for funds for all that rice to be bought up and get processed and be distributed to schools, at a relatively lower price than the schools would get it from traders,’ Musafiri, who appeared on the public broadcaster RBA on Monday, August 19, said.

He said this one day after the purchase of an initial 3,800 tonnes of rice produced from Rusizi District, the company East Africa Exchange.

The move followed a speech by President Paul Kagame, on August 14 – as he administered the oath of Members of Parliament (MPs), and Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente – in which he said there was a need to find a solution to the issue of farmers who rice produce was rotting away in store due to lack of buyers.

Musafiri said that schools were getting rice at Rwf1,500 per kilo, but with the new arrangement, adding that with the new arrangement schools would buy a kilo for Rwf800 at maximum.

‘A good problem to have’

Musafiri said a bumper harvest should not have been a problem, noting that "even if it was a problem, it would be a good problem to have.”

ALSO READ: Rice mills struggle to buy farmers’ produce amid 'cheap imports'

The current issue, Musafiri explained, results from the fact that part of the rice harvested in the agricultural Season B of 2024 had not been sold because traders opted for cheaper imported rice, anticipating bigger profit margins.

"They delayed buying, or were slow in purchasing, locally produced rice. We’ve counted about 26,000 tonnes [countrywide] that lacked buyers, of which 5,000 did not even have a storage facility,” he said.

He pointed out that rice mills wanted to purchase locally produced rice below the minimum Rwf500 per kilo, which is the government-set price for unhusked rice from farmers.

He said the price was set in consideration of farmers’ investment, including fertilisers, labour, and pesticides.

ALSO READ: Rwanda mulls agency to purchase produce from farmers

The thousands of tonnes of rice in question were harvested between May and June.

Going by the prices set in June, the government could spend at least Rwf13 billion to buy the 26,000 tonnes.

It is estimated that after the milling process, which involves the removal of husks from paddy rice, 66 per cent of the quantity remains, translating into 660 kilos per tonne.

This implies that of 26,000 tonnes of paddy rice, about 17,000 tonnes would be ready for human consumption.

Musafiri reassured farmers that the government initiative to buy surplus rice produce starting with Rusizi District would continue to Gasabo, Rwamagana, Gatsibo, Ngoma, and parts of Southern Province in rice growing districts such as Nyanza, and Gisagara.

Meanwhile, the minister said, the government was considering long-term strategies to solve the issue of markets for agricultural produce.

"We want to set up a permanent agency that buys all cereal produce that lacks market so that we store it as the government so that we take it back to market in case of a fall in supply,” he said.

Farmers upbeat after government action

Obed Bunane, the chairperson of UCORIVABU, a union of rice farmers’ cooperatives in the Bugarama valley, Rusizi District, said that the company EAX initiated the purchase of 4,000 tonnes, thanking President Kagame for addressing farmers’ concerns.

"We thank him very much,” Bunane said, observing that the President realised the farmers’ problem, especially in the Bugarama valley, and was committed to a lasting solution.

He told The New Times that before harvest Bugarama farmers had signed contracts with five rice mills that were supposed to buy more than 7,000 tonnes of paddy rice.

By the time the Head of State talked about the issue, Bunane indicated, the farmers had sold only 2,600 tonnes of 7,400 they had hoped to sell.