About Frw 80 Billion has been injected into rice farming in Rwanda for the past five years.
Nobert Sendege, the Director General of Crop Production at MINAGRI says currently the country’s rice production is 71,000 tons of rice annually.
Sendege adds that 2400 more hectares of land will be available for rice growing in the country in addition to the current 9,000 hectares.
The government, World Bank, International Fund for Agriculture Development and African Development Bank have contributed the funds.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources says that Rwanda will produce sufficient rice by the year 2017, and that they are doing their best to increase rice production.
The Permanent Secretary at MINAGRI, Ernest Ruzindaza, said that by the year 2017, Rwanda will have become self reliant in rice production, thus exporting more to local and international markets and importing less.
“One of the strategies we will be using is buying new marchlands and restoring the existing ones to increase rice production.” He added that, the preparations are underway to cultivate 1,700 hectares of land at Muvumba marshland in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province.
According to Sendege, “rice production in the country currently covers 65% of the national demand.
In 2011, the production was at 55% and we believe that with modern agricultural tools and techniques we will not experience any shortage of rice by 2017.”
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