On August 28, 2019, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Dr Gerardine Mukeshimana and Minister of Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viniculture of the Rhineland Palatinate, Dr Volker Wissing, signed a Joint Letter of Intent on deepening cooperation in the field of agriculture between Rwanda and the German State of Rhineland-Palatinate.
By signing the document, Rwanda and Rhineland-Palatinate have agreed to promote cooperation in the fields of agriculture mainly in smart farming in the age of digitalization, sustainable winegrowing and enhancing cooperative management by introducing new management technics and tools, and exchange visits between cooperatives in Rwanda and Rhineland-Palatinate.
According to officials, both sides strive to work together more closely in the development of suitable technologies and know-how transfer.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister Mukeshimana, commended the new move noting that Rwanda will learn a lot from the Rhineland Palatinate since they are highly experienced in smart farming, winegrowing and cooperative management.
She noted that Rwandan farmers are looking for money; there is why whatever they can grow and make some money that is helping their families to get out of poverty need to be supported.
“When you go into Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum exhibition, you find that so many of the young people are venturing into wine making, so it’s important that we start thinking how do we provide ingredients that are needed for wine making with these young people,” the Minister said. “It’s important to note that the future of agriculture is lying in high value commodities.”
Commenting on this new development, Minister Wissing said that they have a lot of experience that can be shared with Rwandans to develop the country’s agriculture sector.
“The most important thing is to bring people together, connect your authorities but also connect the scientific sector and then identify concrete projects. After that, we shall look at how to finance viable projects,” he said.
Regarding smart agriculture, Minister Wissing said, they will support in capacity building in data management for precision agriculture in Rwanda.
Smart farming is in line with priorities of the current Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Agriculture (PSTA4) in Rwanda. The strategy prioritizes the use of ICT solutions as well as digitizing the agriculture sector to improve agriculture productivity and competitiveness, and decision making for policy makers, farmers and the private sector, to attain sustainable agriculture production, make sound investments in agriculture and use resources efficiently.