The Japanese government yesterday, officially handed over 2,070 metric tonnes of fertilisers worth US $2.3 million to the Ministry of Agriculture. The Japanese Ambassador to Rwanda, Kunio Hatanaka, said the grant was given through the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s scheme for Grant Assistance for underprivileged farmers across the country.He cited agriculture as one of the three sectors his government supports."Agriculture is the most important sector as far as accelerating the country’s development is concerned. It’s in this regard that the Japanese government is committed to supporting various developmental programmes in this sector,” Hatanaka stated.According to Hatanaka, JICA supports rice and horticulture farming, irrigation projects and agro business through a project dubbed "One Village One Product” (OVOP) Programme."I really appreciate Rwanda’s efforts towards making the agricultural sector self sufficient. In many African countries, the sector is still in deficit where they import a lot of food which costs them a lot of foreign currency,” Ambassador Hatanaka noted.He, however, observed the need for the government to ensure efficient agricultural production systems to increase agricultural production in the country.The Permanent Secretary in the Agriculture ministry, Ernest Ruzindaza, said the government has been promoting fertilisers and use of improved seeds under the crop intensification programme."While climate change and the global financial crisis have greatly impacted the agricultural field, leading to a food crisis in Africa, Rwanda is experiencing significant economic growth accelerated particularly by the agriculture sector,” Ruzindaza said. A farmer from Cuve Sector, Musanze District, Emmanuel Birikunzira, commended the ministry for distributing fertilisers, which he said, was critical in improving farm yields."Before applying fertilisers, I used to harvest around 10 tonnes of Irish potatoes on one hectare of land. But now I harvest 25 tonnes and above and this has totally changed my family socially and economically.” Currently, farmers buy a kilogramme of fertilisers at a subsidised cost of Rwf380.