The Rwandan and Australian governments have signed an agreement to promote modern agriculture farming to improve food security. The four year project known as “Trees-for Food Security” will be funded and implemented by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in collaboration with the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB).It aims at empowering the population to contribute towards national food security through engaging in national agriculture programmes, including tree planting on farms.The Minister of Natural Resources, Stanislas Kamanzi, promised government’s support to ensure the project achieves its mission.“We consider the role of agro-forestry in increasing agriculture production to meet the growing food demand; and this project is a step towards sustainable natural resource use and management,” Kamanzi said. The project that started in Ethiopia will be extended to Burundi and Uganda.Tony Bartlett, ACIAR Forestry Research Programme Manager, said educating farmers and encouraging them to adopt modern farming methods will be part of the deal.“We shall also focus on maintaining soil fertility and land conservation, especially against soil erosion, being a key factor to fertility loss due to the landscape but also poor farming methods,” Bartlett said.The Director General of Rwanda Agricultural Board (RDB), Jean Jacques Mbonigaba, said the project will first benefit Western and Eastern provinces.“In addition to contributing to agricultural productivity, this project will also supplement or contribute to strategies put in place to mitigate effects of climate change,” he said. Mbonigaba pointed out that the partnership will also enable the two countries to enjoy and share agricultural research to further improve and confront challenges involved in the field. Farmers groups or cooperatives will be involved in coming up with or promoting home-grown solutions which are appropriate solutions to challenges faced in agriculture.The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) operates as part of Australia’s International Development Cooperation. ACIAR promotes and finances collaborative research between Australian and developing-countries’ researchers in disciplines of agriculture and natural resources where Australia has special competence.The programmes covers economics and social sciences, crops, natural resource management, livestock and fisheries.
