With Agriculture a critical driver of Africa’s economic growth, President Paul Kagame has challenged graduates from Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) to introduce innovative solutions to spur the needed growth.

He was speaking at the first-ever graduation ceremony of 75 students from the first cohort of the higher learning institution which aims at training Rwanda’s next generation of leaders to revolutionize the agriculture sector in Rwanda and Africa.

The state-of-the-art university located between two lakes, Kirimbi and Gaharwa, sits on an area of 1,300 hectares with a number of buildings and fields used to offer hands-on skills to students in modern agriculture and research.

Established in 2019 by the American philanthropist Howard G. Buffet in collaboration with the Rwandan government, RICA offers a three-year programme in which students earn a Bachelor of Science in Conservation Agriculture, with specialisation in Animal Production or Crop Production, Mechanisation and Food Processing.

In addition to that, they are also equipped with leadership, entrepreneurship, and communication skills.

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RICA’s mission has been to address the long-term challenges of smallholder farmers through conservation agriculture, Kagame said, agriculture is a critical driver of Africa’s economic growth but we have not yet unlocked its full potential.

"Graduates, in this context, I challenge you to identify a problem, give it your full attention and make it your focus to solve it. You will experience many setbacks, but having a vision is often the difference between giving up and persevering.”

With the skills, knowledge, and entrepreneurial spirit instilled in the students, he expressed confidence that they will bring innovations in the field of agriculture, however, he noted that it will require them to walk the path less travelled which often means being misunderstood or criticised.

According to him, the problem in Africa is not the lack of talent or natural resources, nor collaborating productively and putting collective wealth to good use.

"These lessons resonate well with our transformation journey as a country and the people. Because of our context, we have to do things differently. We have also put high value on regional integration and collaborating with our neighbours and partners.”

Kagame advised the graduates to surround themselves with like-minded colleagues for motivation and to not forget the meaningful relationships they created.

"Graduates, the ball is now in your court, we count on you to go out in the world and bring positive change,” he concluded.

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Chichi Brave Ntaganira, Student Speaker, said that while the learning model at RICA was entirely new to them at first, the students embraced the cutting-edge innovations that shape modern agriculture and are stepping into the world with innovative solutions in the agriculture sector.

He thanked the faculty and staff whose "tireless efforts and invaluable support proved that RICA is not just an institution but a nurturing community”, and expressed gratitude to parents and guardians on behalf of all students—conveying the graduating triumph to them as the anchor behind their success.

Buffet, the RICA Chancellor, Chairman and CEO of Howard G Buffet Foundation, tasked the students as they go out to transform and modernise agriculture, to do so with a demonstration of basic elements of human behaviour that guarantee success, namely right judgement, ability to anticipate, strength to say no, willingness to accept failure, as well as accept and forgive people.

He said that RICA started as a big idea of delivering sustainable solutions operated in the African context of appropriate agriculture for a specific country and Rwanda is the only country that embraced and made it a reality.

"Agriculture is about science, math, and technology. It’s about improving lives and feeding people. It’s about taking care of the land and the natural resources so that the next generation can produce even more than what we do today. It’s about transforming your country and its economy, and supporting farmers to improve their lives.”

He told the students that their education and leadership will change the way the people view agriculture, not just in Rwanda, but across eastern Africa and the continent.

RICA remains one of the major high learning institutions commended for its innovative teaching and learning model and has attracted many leaders to interact with the students and find prospects of duplicating such model in their own countries.