Author: Abou-Shadadi

The USAID Dairy Competitiveness (UDC) Project, in partnership with Land O’Lakes International Development, has just launched the Rwanda National Dairy Board (RNDB) and a new Dairy Quality Assurance Laboratory (DQAL) located just outside Kigali. The space was generously donated by the Rwanda Animal Resources Development Authority (RARDA), and is located at the Bull Station in Masaka.

The establishment of both facilities marks a key achievement for the USAID Dairy Competitiveness Project and Land O’Lakes, as these entities set the stage for the growth of a sustainable and prosperous Rwandan dairy industry that promotes quality dairy products and fosters an enabling environment for milk producers, processors and sellers. UDC also recently established a purchasing agreement with Inyange Processors that will pay farmers and milk collection centers working through the project with higher premiums for raw milk that meets quality standards, which will be checked through DQAL.

A number of Rwandan and U.S. government officials attended the event, as did a wide array of Rwandans from across the dairy sector. Among the speakers included U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Stuart Symington, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resource’s Permanent Secretary Ernest Ruzindaza, Rwanda National Dairy Board Chairman Emmanuel Ndahiro, and Land O’Lakes International Development’s Country Manager for Rwanda, Dave Peters. Over 100 people were in attendance to celebrate the launch, including officials from USAID and members of Rwanda’s Dairy Sector Working Group.

“I used to think that water was the true glue that held everything in the world together,” noted Ambassador Symington at the launch. “But seeing what everyone here is doing today, I realize that you have tapped into something perhaps equally important with dairy.”
Following a ribbon-cutting, the Ambassador and other visitors were able to view for themselves the well-equipped raw milk testing equipment at the DQAL facility, which was relocated and revamped from its original grounds in the northeast region of Nyagatare. They also learned about the important work already underway by the Rwanda National Dairy Board to create a competitive environment for Rwanda’s dairy industry, promote improved incomes for dairy farmers, and move the industry towards export potential.

Since 2007, the USAID Dairy Competitiveness (UDC) implemented by Land O’Lakes has enabled the dairy sector to compete and thrive at both national and district levels. Focusing on Nyagatare and Gatsibo Districts in Eastern Province, the project has been making incremental improvements all along the value chain that boost milk quality, make processing more efficient, and improve the industry’s competitiveness in local and export markets. Through funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), UDC is also helping to increase the productivity and profitability of dairy farms owned by people living with HIV/AIDS and improving dairy-based nutrition for orphans and vulnerable children.

Comprised of milk producers, processors and sellers, RNDB will play a catalytic role of fostering market growth, monitoring industry trends, facilitating coordination among stakeholders, and helping the entire dairy industry – from farmers to processors, and from sellers to consumers – to reach their full potential.

Meanwhile, DQAL is equipped with the best possible equipment for testing milk quality, and offers a vast a range of services that will enable producers, processors and all who seek to use the lab with the quality assurance services they need at an affordable price. The lab will offer nearly 30 different tests, ranging from tests for microbiological organisms, somatic cell counts and acidity, to those for raw milk components, mastitis and field testing of cows.

Land O’Lakes is the second largest food and agricultural cooperative in the United States doing business in all 50 states. Building on the company’s 90 years of agribusiness cooperative heritage, Land O’Lakes International Development works as a not-for-profit division, and has implemented over 260 programs in 76 countries since 1981

The government through Rwanda Development Board has commissioned a US$2m electrical fence that will cover the territorial boundaries of Akagera national park.

The 2.5 metre-electric fence that is powered by solar energy will be supported by a metallic mesh intersected by three horizontal electrified wires and galvanised posts secured at short distances to endure high pressure and wind.

John Gara, the Chief Executive Officer, RDB said that the construction is important because it will provide solution to the problem of wildlife animals that have been interfering with the activities of the population living near the park.

“We are very pleased to be here today to start the fencing of the Akagera National Park. This is the beginning of the end of the human-wildlife conflicts at the boundaries of the park,” he said in a ceremony held at the park’s southern entrance of Nyankona in Kayonza district on Tuesday.

“This will not only solve the problem of human-wildlife conflicts but it will also provide employment opportunities to the neighbouring population during the construction process and also thereafter in terms of maintaining the fence,” he added.

The fencing also aims at addressing different problems linked to the close proximity of the park with the human population. These include direct damages, loss of property, poaching and other illegal activities in the park.

In a bid to support the Akagera community conservation programme that links the park to the community, RDB donated a cheque worth Rwf 6M to 132 families of Kageyo cell, Mwili sector, Kayonza district. The money will also compensate property destroyed by the wildlife.

“We recognised that the benefits from the park that we generally receive are to be shared between not only the general public but also the community projects of the population surrounding the park,” Gara pointed out.

Executive Secretary of Mwili Sector, J.M.V Habyarimana noted that the community is optimistic that the money donated shall be used to buy seeds to cultivate crops in the destroyed farms.

Rwanda’s construction company, Entreprise de Construction (EME) in partnership with a South African construction company were contracted to put up the fence.

Women hawkers in the streets of Kigali will soon boost their income levels after authorities advised them to join cooperatives to access financial services.

The president of the national women council, Tengera Francesca, is buoyant that the effort to organise women street vendors into cooperatives and empower them is one way to enhance the business
sector.

“I know you are not poor as you always run up down and think that your hopes ends from there and that is why today we are here to implement knowledge which is missing.”
Tengera also noted that the cooperatives will help women to shun illicit business and target bigger businesses.

“We want to organise women who are in petty business to come together into cooperatives,” she said,
She also noted that hundreds of street vendors, mainly women usually flock in Kigali streets during evening hours.

This workshop organised by the national women council in partnership with Rwanda Cooperative Alliance is sensitising almost 321 women from Kigali on how they come together in cooperatives to expand their
business.

Audace Bimenyimana, the officer in charge curriculum development in the capacity building unit at RCA said that women are able to earn a lot from their meagre capital if they come together in cooperatives.

“By working together, these women have the advantage of earning a lot from their savings and build bigger businesses and they will be able to employ other people,” he said.

Genevieve Mukeshimana a mother of 4 who is a street vendor dealing in vegetables says she is optimistic that this effort will improve their business perceptions thus better incomes.

“I am always up and down fighting with the local security, but when the officials from our nyarugenge district called us to come for training I did not refuse because I believed after this workshop I am
going to through away (agataro).”

The mayor Nyarugenge Solange Mukasonga said that the government has already prepared minimarkets where female hawkers will be allocated to carry out their businesses on an expansive basis.

“We have started construction of two more selling points in Mageragere and Kanyinya. This will help many of these women to get a place,” she said, noting that the markets will help women to expand businesses after acquiring credit.

The ministry of health and the private sector are working on a framework to enhance collaboration from both parties with the aim of facilitating better healthcare.

Though the private sector has contributed to improvement in health activities, the Health Minister Agnes Binagwaho argues more needs to be done to provide health services especially in rural areas.

She further assured support to the private sector adding that if they for instance put up hospitals, the government would provide them healthcare personnel. “We have to ensure that there is quality healthcare provision within the public as well as the private sector.”

Jean Nyirinkwaya, the president of the private medical association highlighted that they too have the will do more towards extending better health services to Rwandans. “We’re meeting to find ways of enhancing a relationship between the Ministry Of Health and us and we hope to come with a framework that would confront challenges such as
manpower and equipment,” he remarked.

This year’s Kigali National Agricultural show is set to highlight among other things the performance strides the agricultural sector has taken.

The annual show slated to take place from 6-12 June, 2011 at Mulindi Agricultural Show ground in Gasabo, Kigali will bring together farmers and traders countrywide.

Speaking to journalists Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Agnes Kalibata noted that the show would also showcase the current innovations the government has invested in recently.

“We have recently been investing heavily in irrigation and mechanization, said Kalibata, adding; “What we plan to do in this agricultural show is to exhibit some of these innovations.”

“The amount of work that would usually take a whole day could be done in two hours. This is why it is vital for those involved in agricultural practices to be equipped with machinery because it allows them to be more productive while at the same time allowing them to invest their time in other productive activities that go beyond agriculture.”

The permanent secretary in the ministry Ernest Ruzindaza reiterated that government is targeting to promote the use of new machinery by offering subsidies to the agriculturalists and making these easily available.

“Machinery that will be used include various tractors and (combine) harvesters and they will be imported tax free” he said, adding that; “we are trying to make these more affordable and accessible to agricultural practitioners that’s why they will be able to purchase them at a lower cost of 25 percent through corporations such as the rural investment facility”.

The minister observed that the drive towards agricultural modernisation was not only allowing and promoting investment opportunities but “also creating awareness between practitioners of the availability of new and advanced methods of farming and encouraging their use.”