Focus on economic transformation, Musoni urges coffee growers

NORTHERN PROVINCE BURERA, NKUMBA — Coffee growers and industry stakeholders who formed the fifth phase of the civic education programme-Itorero ryigihugu, have been urged to spearhead the country’s economic transformation, through increased coffee production. Protais Musoni, the Minister of Local Government, said this while closing the civic education programme for coffee growers who had completed one month civic education training at the Peace and Leadership Centre, Nkumba in Burera District at the weekend. “We are poor yet we don’t deserve to be so, because we have land as a major resource, knowledge and the energy, we just need to determine what we should be,’’ Musoni said. Over 600 coffee growers, who are supported by the Rwanda Coffee Development Authority-OCIR Café, attended the training. Part of the one month training programme for attendees included a course on national development programmes. Instruction also focused on discussions themes around the challenges within the coffee sector including processing and issues related to sales of the commodity. At the closure of the course , Fatuma Ndangiza, the Executive Secretary of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, observed that the attendees use the training they acquired to sensitise others on the need to embrace the concept of economic transformation by the coffee growers and the relevance of such thinking in forging unity for development. Alex Kanyankore, the Director General of OCIR-Café, said that his agency has set a target to double coffee production from 22,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes within the next three years. This called for a need to mobilise labour especially coffee cooperatives in order to meet this target, he added. Ends