 Agriculture
sector |
Turning to commercial farming
Contributing over 40% of the country's GDP and
employing close to 92% of the population, Rwanda's
agricultural sector is seen as a focal point in
the fight against poverty. Because agriculture
is mainly subsistence, rural populations remain
living under acute poverty with an estimated 60%
of the population living on less than one US dollar
a day.
It is believed that bringing them into the economy
by commercializing agriculture will make a major
impact on their welfare. Improved agricultural
methods, adding value to products and opening
markets for agricultural produce form core strategy
for monetising the country's agriculture.
"There is need to employ modern methods
of agricultural production. Meaning that we have
to look at the genetic part of the crops and animals,
the quality of the soils, the nutrition of these
domestic animals and also improve the management,"
emphasizes Dr. Ephraim Kabaija Rwanda's minister
for agriculture.
Rwanda has embarked on agricultural intensification
and specialisation, which is partly dictated by
the shortage of Rwanda's farmland. The farming land
amounting to about 1 million hectares for a population
of about 8 million puts on average less than 0.7ha
per household and in areas that are densely populated,
it is as low as 0.4 ha per household. |
The government campaign
has been trying to orient people to specialize in
one profitable enterprise especially on the production
of cereals like maize, rice and beans.
The Livestock though of minimal contribution,
has seen a steady rise. The agricultural ministry
has embarked on a program of importing into the
country exotic breeds to get cross breeds that
are more productive and resistant to tropical
diseases.
Coffee and tea are the two main export crops
in Rwanda contributing about 60% of the exports.
To improve the returns from coffee and tea sectors,
the Rwandan government is committed to liberalisation
of the sectors through privatisation of state
owned utilities.
The government has adopted a strategy that addresses
the issue of participation of nationals and key
stakeholders in the ownership of tea factories
and estates through privatization. Privatization
of the state owned tea estates is expected not
only to improve production but also marketing
of the crop on top of doubling the earning of
the workers on the estates.
There are currently 10 tea estates in Rwanda,
one already privatized and the remaining nine
under the government parastatal- OCIRThe. Rwandan
tea is ranked among the best qualities in the
world and much of it is exported to the Middle
East and Europe.
Coffee production has been severely affected by
the fluctuation of commodities on the world market.
However OCIR-Café officials stress that favorable
rains that characterized the year 2002 cold see
a significant rise in the crop yields amounting
to 20,000 tonnes up from 2001 output of 19,000 tonnes.
Rwanda's annual coffee output in nearly all Arabic. |
