A top ministry of Agriculture official has said that by 2017, Rwanda will be self reliant in rice production.."The ministry has put in place all the necessary strategies and mechanisms as far as increasing rice production in the country is concerned and one of the them is by increasing investment in marshland development,” the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), Ernest Ruzindaza, told The New Times.He said that under Rwanda Sector Support Project (RSSP) phase three which will be funded by the World Bank, 7,000 hectares of rice fields will be planted in various marshlands in the country as one of the ways to increase production. Ruzindaza said that over 1,700 hectares of land are being prepared Muvumba marshland in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province. "Our target as MINAGRI is to stop the importation of rice and instead begin to export our Rwandan rice to the local and international markets because this will help our nation to achieve sustainable development especially in the agriculture sector,”  he said.Speaking to The New Times, Norbert Sendege, the Director General for Crop Production at MINAGRI said that currently the country produces 71,000 tones of rice annually.According to Sendege, rice farming is being carried out on 9,000 hectares of land in the country and in the next year, 2400 more hectares will be available for rice growing in the country. "Rice production in the country currently covers 65 percent of the national demand. Last year, production was at 55 percent and I believe that with the available modern agricultural techniques we shall be self-reliant in rice production by 2017,” Sendege said.According to Sendege, for the past five years, government in collaboration with the World Bank, International Fund for Agriculture Development and African Development has so far invested around Rwf80billion in rice farming in the country.Jean Bosco Murenzi, a Rice farmer in Kirehe District, thanked government for its efforts but asked the ministry and other stakeholders to also put much emphasis in increasing the production of other agricultural products.