{Key stakeholders in Rwanda’s horticulture sector on January the 29th 2014 met and discussed the current status, challenges, available opportunities and best approaches on how to promote the sector. }
The one-day meeting brought together officials of the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), producers and traders of fruits, vegetables and flowers, representatives from financial institutions financing agriculture projects as well as representatives of the Ministry of Trade and Industry among others.
While presenting the current status of horticulture in Rwanda, Epimaque Nsanzabaganwa, the Head of Horticulture Division at NAEB, said the horticulture in the country is still in its embryonic stage; noting that the production is still very low.
According to the official, private sector operators engaged in producing fruits, vegetables and flowers are still very few; which leads to low horticulture exports; hence a need to woo the private sector to embrace the sector.
Nsanzabaganwa said NAEB is striving to provide farmers with good seeds in a bid to boost the production. He also noted that they are encouraging exporters to work closely with producers in order to produce what is needed on market.
Horticulture exports increased significantly over the last seven years – from 1.16 US$ million in 2006 to 10.2 US$ million earned last year, but a lot is yet to be done in order to meet the country’s expectation to reach 22.8US$ million of income earned from horticulture in 2015, as envisaged by Rwanda’s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2).
Officials said tremendous effort is being made to hit the target. For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources put in place a scheme dubbed Rural Income Through Exports (PRICE) Project, that is providing farmers with incentives of 50% as grant on vegetables and fruit projects.
“If there is an area that can ensure huge returns in agriculture, think about horticulture,” Corneille Ntakirutimana, the deputy director general in charge of Production Support and Chain Development at NAEB, told private sector operators engaged in horticulture value chain.
Although horticulture has huge potential for gains in Rwanda, but several areas of horticulture are still unexploited, while the horticulture has huge potential to increase Rwanda’s exports.
The EDPRS2 envisages that national exports should increase by 28% every year – and horticulture has been identified as the potential area that will help the country to achieve this target.
On the other side, the private sector operators said they still need much assistance if the government wants to see huge horticulture exports. Frank Ntabana, a mango grower based in Nyagatare, said that the government should incubate the private sector, noting that the same practice has been done other countries like in Kenya.
“The government should start incubating exporters if they need to increase exports,” pointed out Ntabana, noting that even producers still lack technical assistance, which affects the quality of their produce.
Other exporters also requested the government to provide them with information on international available markets.
The meeting with the national horticulture stakeholders comes following a good number of agreements that the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources signed in the recent past with international institutions and companies to bring in skills and modern technologies in Rwanda’s horticulture.
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