More than 1,000 stakeholders in agriculture including agro-dealers, farmers and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) and Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), and other partners have met on February 12, 2019 to discuss how to provide farmers with inputs on time during the upcoming season 2019B and enhance post-harvest handling for yields from season 2019A.
The one-day meeting was meant to assess harvesting activities for farming season 2019A and expedite the preparation for the season 2019B to ensure that the farmers get fertilizers and seeds on time.
Speaking during the meeting, the Permanent Secretary in MINAGRI, Musabyimana Jean Claude, urged local officials and field staff to work closely with the farmers to avoid aflatoxine. He also called upon officials in charge of agriculture to speed up preparations for season 2019B.
According to expectations from RAB, the country expects about 57,000 tonnes of rice yields from season 2019A, 350,000 tonnes of beans, 441,000 tonnes of maize produce, and 637,000 tonnes of Irish potatoes.
Dr. Charles Bucagu, the Deputy Director General in charge of Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer at RAB noted that this harvest is not far from the one from previous season despite drought that hit some areas of Eastern Province.
Dr Bucagu noted that they are working with district officials and field staff to mobilize farmers on preparing their land on time.
“We are dealing with those in charge of agro-inputs distribution to ensure they reach agro-dealers and farmers on time to avoid any delays,” he said.
To ease access to inputs, he explained, the farmers are mobilized to register themselves in Smart Nkunganire System; a mobile phone-based system meant to digitize the end to end value chain of the Agro-input Subsidy program in Rwanda.