On November 26, 2018, Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Environment met with senior officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) and its affiliated agencies and they discussed about different agricultural programs and how to expedite Rwanda’s agriculture transformation agenda.
The brief meeting took place before the members of parliament kick off their countrywide tour to assess the performance of the agriculture and livestock sector.
According to Honorable Ignatienne Nyirarukundo, the Chairperson of the parliamentary Standing Committee, the members of parliament will assess availability of improved farm inputs, availability and performance of storage facilities and engage with farmers, local officials, and factories processing farm produce among others.
The ministry provided the members of parliament with updates on the performance of key agricultural programs and projects that are meant to transform the country’s agriculture sector.
For instance, thanks to efforts invested in soil protection, the country counts 110,041.4 ha of arable land covered with radical terraces and 923,604 ha of progressive terraces. The country also has 53,375 ha of irrigable land, according to Jean Claude Musabyimana, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources.
Though the sector has been registering a steady growth over the years, the Permanent Secretary noted, there are still some challenges that hamper the sector’s transformation agenda. These challenges include the Climate change and negative environmental effects, low private sector investment, limited agricultural land and land fragmentation, insufficient professionalization of farmers, and agriculture market volatility among others.

The members of parliament commended what the ministry has been doing to achieve national food self-sufficiency goal which is currently over 90 percent of all food consumed in the country. They however noted that more advocacy is still needed in a bid to strengthen research, increase improved seeds produced locally, and increase private sector investment among others.
It is expected that the committee will meet the ministry officials again on December 19, 2018 after the completion of the evaluation in districts to compare notes.