New programme to help agric ministry forecast crop output

It will now be easy for the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources to forecast the impact of its policies that aim at boosting sector productivity, thanks to training received by the ministry experts. The initiative, which uses evidence-based performance indicators, will help them assess how the ministry’s interventions will also enhance the socio-economic welfare of communities over a given period of time. According to Raphael Rurangwa, the director general for planning in the Ministry of Agriculture, the training in computable general equilibrium model will also enable policy-makers to make evidence-based policies. “The objective of the training is to build capacity of staff (agronomists) from selected institutions to use this model, which was developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), to forecast the possible impact of the various policies the ministry is implementing on productivity and socio-economic wellbeing,” Rurangwa explained. Eleven agronomists from the Ministry of Agriculture and National Agriculture Export Board (Naeb) benefited from the three-week training in the computable general equilibrium model. John Pamucci, Human and Institutional Capacity Development (HICD) chief of party, said the programme also seeks to improve the performance of partner institutions to “make Rwanda a self-reliant country”. “Participants will contribute to decision-making by providing knowledge, analysis and forecasting, as well as making appropriate models for the sector’s growth,” Pamucci said. Meanwhile, Tony Nsanganira, the State Minister for Agriculture, has urged farmers to form Twigire farming groups so as to access extension services and boost crop production. Nsanganira was last week launching activities for the planting season B in Mukura Sector Rutsiro District, Western Province. The minister participated in the planting of wheat in the area. The Twigire extension model is a national strategy that has decentralised extension services to the village level. It is mainly driven by agricultural promoters, who are mostly model and enthusiastic farmers. The approach is touted to ease pressure on the few sector extension staff, and increase access to services to rural farmers. Under the initiative, farmers also received fertilisers and improved seeds as part of the efforts to increase production. business@newtimes.co.rw

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New programme to help agric ministry forecast crop output