Rwanda to host continental agro meet

Rwanda will play host to the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) stake holders’ meeting slated for December 7-8, 2009. Addressing the media yesterday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ernest Ruzindaza, said the high level meeting will bring together all CAADP partners and stakeholders. The meeting is expected to attract representatives from the continent’s regional economic blocs and the donor community. According to Ruzindaza, the summit will mainly focus on reviewing the achievements registered inline with CAADP’s direction, analysing the challenges encountered and forging the way forward. “This meeting will provide ground to member countries to highlight the achievements, reviewing the realisation of commitments made by each of the partners, of which some were slow to fully engage themselves in the program, especially on the part of donors,” said Ruzindaza. Rwanda will also take this opportunity to present its Agriculture Investment Plan that will facilitate the achievement of Millennium Development Goals1 (MDG1) and Rwanda’s grand vision 2020 as well. The investment plan is worth around $800m of which around $500m is available and the remaining $300m is expected from donors. The implementation of the program has greatly facilitated realisation of policies like crop intensification, land consolidation and one-cow-per-household. CAADP is a program of New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and aims at facilitating its member countries via regional economic communities to improve agricultural production and eradicate poverty. Rwanda is among the ten countries that have so far signed the CAADP compact country agreement after Togo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Mali, Benin, Liberia and Gambia. Ends

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Rwanda to host continental agro meet