Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources Dr. Geradine Mukeshimana has urged youth to take advantages available along the dairy value chain in a bid to take Rwanda’s dairy industry to the next level.

“We’re here to support you,” Minister Mukeshimana told the youth on April 11, 2017 while meeting with young people involved in dairy industry who are members of the Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum (RYAF). The meeting was meant to discuss and break down all challenges faced by youth in dairy value chain to ensure growth of Rwanda’s dairy industry. 

Participants included youth engaged in cow rearing, veterinary service providers, milk trade and milk processing, among others. They all got chance to describe their businesses and challenges they’re facing. Minister Mukeshimana pledged the ministry’s full support to build their capacity and tackle infrastructure challenges. 

The youth hailed the government support that is making them job creators and improve their living conditions.  Habiyakare Francois, one of the participants, from Gishwati Milk Processing cooperative, said they used to work for other milk processing companies, but they later realized that they could even get more income by working for themselves. Habiyakare’s cooperative is now housed in one of the Milk Collection Centers built by the ministry. 

The youth have also been encouraged to take advantages of some projects supporting dairy industry such as the newly launched Rwanda Dairy Development Project (RDDP) and the Climate Resilient Post-Harvest and Agribusiness Support Project (PASP).

Rwanda has made tremendous strides in rebuilding the sector since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi where an estimated 80% of cattle were decimated. The cattle population of 172,000 local cows in 1994 has now grown to 1.35 million comprising (40%) local breeds (54%) cross-breeds and (6%) pure breeds.

This transformation has come about as a result of a number of government programs including restocking, genetic improvement through artificial insemination, land reform, animal disease control, the one cow per poor family program; and as a result, there has been an increase in milk production in the country. Milk production has increased significantly from 50,000 MT in year 2000 to 776,792 MT in 2016.