The government is ready to help address specific challenges faced by the youth in agriculture to ensure many of them find opportunities in the sector, according to the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Gérardine Mukeshimana. She was speaking during a virtual meeting joined by different youth venturing in agriculture from across the country and other government institutions like Rwanda Standards Board (RSB), Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA), Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (RFDA), National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) and Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum (RYAF). The aim of the meeting was to identify the challenges the youth face in agriculture and find ways to tackle them and find ways to reduce the drop-out of youth in Agriculture. “I challenge the youth to always seek the help they need from us and we also have partners, but the youth should also try to find solutions for themselves and we will support them in the challenges we heard like land shortage, certification and irrigation among others,” she added. The minister also urged young people to venture into the agriculture sector because it is the biggest sector in the country and the country needs the youth to support it. Emmanuel Ndateba a young farmer in Nyanza District who ventured into banana plantation five years ago says he started with 200 banana suckers but now he is at 500 trees and still adding value to increase productivity. “My biggest challenge is irrigation, I am near a water source but lack the financial capacity and the right tools. Given capacity, I would build a dam to help me and my neighbours increase the productivity of our bananas,” he added. Need agric innovation hub Marie-Ange Mukagahima another youth engaged in agriculture where she ventures in food processing said they need an innovation hub specifically for the agriculture sector. “We need a hub in agriculture like there are in other sectors like ICT, where we can be trained in various areas along the agriculture value chain. Many of us incur losses because of lack of guidance. Some of us venture into the unknown,” she said. Esperance Nyiramucyo the chairperson of RYAF said the biggest challenge the youth faces is in quality certification where most of them still have a problem because it is expensive but also requires more other resources they do not have. “Another problem is the shortage of land, where the youth want to venture in agriculture but do not have enough land where to operate from, and the tough conditions the banks impose on us in terms of getting loans, and due to Covid-19 we limited fellowships and trainings in agriculture which affected the sector,” she added. Nyiramucyo added that these problems can be solved with working closely with different government institutions in charge, and help the youth in solving these problems. Beatrice Uwumukiza Director General of RICA said the problems of certifications can be solved through regular inspections, putting clear guidelines for them and providing them with all the help they need from farm level to market level. “We work with different partners like RFDA, RSB so the crops and animals these youth sell are safe for consumption and they are ready for market, the reason we are tough with these regulations is because these standards are international, and they can have no problem exporting them, once they are certified,” she added.
