IN the bid of eradicating poverty, the Government has set up 70 Milk Collection Centres (MCC) all over the country. To execute the task, Rwanda Development Bank (BRD) was mandated to implement the project.

In the process of implement the job, livestock farmers under one umbrella (Cooperatives) were required to mobilise Rwf10 million per cooperative and a construction site.  

According BRD’s Acting Managing Director, Jack N. Kayonga the Government grant fund is available and money for BRD’s loans is available and now its all about the cooperatives to provide us with the evidence that they qualify to be given funds.

"So far only 19 out of the 70 MCC to be built fulfil all the requirements to be funded and we are still waiting for the rest to present their credentials,” Kayonga explained.

In the project, the government is committed to avail Rwf10 million grant to each of the cooperative fulfilling the requirements and BRD is in a process of awarding a loan of Rwf35 million to each of the cooperatives.

The construction implementation is projected to take four months maximum 19 MCCs to be complete for the first phase.

Kayonga hailed livestock farmers that the bank will provide them with technical assistance and trainings.

"Farmers and end users will definitely benefit from the project, we will mobilise them into cooperatives, provide them with extension services and easy access to market and linkages to processing plants,” He explained.

He also added that farmers will now be working with a bigger market and the bank will connect them with the processing industry.

The top BRD boss explained that farmers have been working in confusion and they couldn’t make the maximum litres a milk centre is required to provide per day, and now with this project, cooperatives will be able to produce the required 5,000 litres of milk per day.

The implementation of each milk centre will cost Rwf65million and one centre will be able to create five permanent employment opportunities, able to increase the farms’ revenue, improve the quality of raw milk delivered on the market and constitute a sure supplier of raw milk for processing dairies.

BRD constructed a local company called ERTRACO in the building of the 19 MCCs.

This project is falling in the Government policy in which it wants to increase milk production, improve methods of conserving milk and enhance its processing and transformation in the country.

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