Maize farmers say the quality of their produce has significantly improved and this has earned them good market since they got modern drying shelters and improved their post-harvest practices over the last few seasons. 

Kamuhanda Silas, one of the farmers from Ngoma District, Eastern Province, says their maize yields used to be often rejected by buyers due to poor post-harvest handling, but they have now managed to attract potential buyers with higher prices since they got modern drying shelters.

The farmer says before they started proper post-harvest handling, they used to sell their produce at Frw 100 or less a kilogramme, which brought in little, if any, profits because the quality of their produce was graded poor.

“The maize farm gate price has increased from around Frw 100/kg to Frw 257/kg thanks to proper post-harvest handling,” Kamuhanda says.

Over the course of the last few years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) through Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) has trained farmers on how to prevent aflatoxin. Since then, the farmers have embraced proper handling of their maize and grains after harvesting by making use of drying shelters.

Illuminée Kamaraba, Post-Harvest Management and Biotechnology Division Manager at RAB, says besides drying shelters given to farmers, the Government also provides them with dryers and plastic sheetings  to enhance post-harvest handling.

During this fiscal year 2019/2020, the government allocated more than Frw 10 billion to construct 675 modern drying shelters to support smallholder farmers in improving their post-harvest handling across the country.