Food security: Lawmakers call for optimal use of arable land

No land should be left lying idle while it could be cultivated and impact society, Members of Parliament have said. The call was made on Tuesday during a consultative meeting on boosting social welfare in the country. The meeting, held at Parliamentary Buildings in Kimihurura, was attended by lawmakers, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as development partners under the social cluster. The development partners represented include the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), UNICEF, and the UK Department for International Development (DfID), among others. During the session, MPs wondered why, across the country, there are swathes of land that lie idle, yet it would be exploited to boost food security. They also pointed to marshlands that have not been utilised for agriculture purposes, thereby rendering them unproductive. According to information from the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), the country has 860 marshlands, covering a total surface of 278,536 hectares, which corresponded to 10.6 per cent of the country surface. MP Veneranda Nyirahirwa wondered why some of the vulnerable people do not have land to cultivate, yet there are marshlands that are lying idle. “We have marshlands in the country that are currently cultivated at just 57 per cent. What is being done to fully exploit such marshlands so that the vulnerable can get farmland?” she asked. Théobald Mporanyi said there is land that has been designated for agriculture, livestock, settlement (housing) under land use and management policy. But, he said, not all land that was designated for agriculture is being cultivated. “You go to the countryside and realise that people have fenced off hectares and hectares of land that is not being utilised, sometimes becoming a den of drug addicts and thugs, yet in close vicinity there are needy people who can exploit that land,” he said. MP Evariste Kalisa said: “We have a marshland on the banks of River Nyabarongo, isn’t there a way it can be given to vulnerable people to exploit it and be able to empower themselves economically?” The Minister for Agriculture, Geraldine Mukeshimana, said development of marshlands and irrigation projects is largely depended on budget. She said that the law regulating land use is clear and should be observed where it has been flouted, including what happens in the event that a piece of land has not been put to good use over a specified period of time. The law stipulates that after if a piece of land has been lying idle for three years it should be given to other people for exploitation. The minister added that such property can also fall under the ambit of the law governing abandoned property. “It requires continued efforts to identify property that is not used,” she said. Need for irrigation MPs called for scaling of water harvesting practices, noting that wasted rainwater – which causes soil erosion – could be used to irrigate crops during drought. But Minister Mukeshimana urged partnerships between the government and the private sector owing to the high cost of irrigation facilities. Arable land in the country is estimated at 1.5 million hectares, according to figures from Rwanda Agriculture Board. The country needs some Rwf4,000 billion to carry out irrigation on 600,000 hectares of land that can be irrigated. The small-scale irrigation scheme subsidy where the government offers 50 per cent of irrigation equipment cost for land that is not over 10 hectares in size, is a good step toward attaining this target, said Mukeshimana. According to MPs, there is need for concerted efforts to support smallholder farmers to access land and finance to enable them produce more from their farmland. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Food security: Lawmakers call for optimal use of arable land