Increased agriculture investment worthwhile

The Rural Sector Support project (RSSP) a world bank funded project, on Monday, received an US$80 million grant.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The Rural Sector Support project (RSSP) a world bank funded project, on Monday, received an US$80 million grant.The project, which is set to enter its third phase, aims at increasing rural investment in agriculture as well as enhance the capacity of farmers so that they can shift to market oriented farming.Such initiatives have improved agricultural output, which is partly why Rwanda is credited as one of the countries that have benefited immensely from policies that promoted investments made after the 2008 food crisis, particularly in the agriculture sector.There’s no doubt that with such initiatives, which also include focus on production and storage, transformation of landscapes as well as the supply of quality seeds and fertilisers to farmers, the country is on the right track to win the war on poverty.Government has put in place strategies to maintain this pace and is even performing better through improved farming practices.Nevertheless, the country is still grappling with challenges such as post- harvest handling.These challenges have led to losses of up to 40 percent of the produce.By boosting post handling facilities, the farmers will not only be in better position to bring down the losses but also consolidate the reregistered progress in the agriculture sector.