The Minister of Agriculture and Animal resources, Dr Gerardine Mukeshimana, has called upon young people who are involved in agriculture to bring in innovative solutions in order expedite Rwanda’s agriculture development.
“The agriculture sector in our country has huge opportunities for wealth creation; that’s why I call on you to take advantages of these opportunities and make fortunes from farming activities” the minister said.
She made the call on December 18, 2018 in Huye District while attending an annual retreat of members of the Horticulture in Reality Cooperative (HoReCo); a youth organization that mainly groups more than 100 young agronomists who completed a practical training course on modern farming in Israel.
The young agronomists assist farmers with best farming practices in 16 districts across the country. They mainly operate in irrigation schemes – both in marshlands and hillside irrigation schemes – on more than 8000 ha.
The minister urged the young agronomists to use their knowledge to support the farmers increase their agricultural productivity. She also advised them to think big and start investing their own agribusiness projects as they have right skills to become successful agripreneurs.
Created in 2016, HoReCo provides extension services to the farmers in different areas of agriculture, provides quality and cost effective inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, among others, and link them to the potential markets.