The Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Dr. Gerardine Mukeshimana, says that the widening challenges in the agriculture sector are emanating from especially climate change and decline in agricultural research.
Dr. Mukeshimana explains that agriculture was mostly affected by climate change where strange pests and insects emerged and spread crop diseases. General decline in research, especially when Rwanda Agricultural Research Institute (ISAR) was phased out and replaced with Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) has also fed into poor crop performance.
“The research severely declined. Most of the challenges result from inadequate performance of RAB; they did not produce improved seeds and fertilizers successfully, neither did they carry out research on current crisis to provide a remedy,” she said.
The minister says that they are putting in more efforts to promote research as a way of sustainably attaining good harvest.
Over 11 million Rwandans depend on agriculture and animal husbandry representing 85% of the population.
The budget reserved for agriculture has been increased from Rwf 90 298 698 305 billion in 2013/2014 to Rwf 102,870 277 395 billion in 2015/2016 national budget. However, last year the sector faced the effects of pests and diseases damages that immensely affected crop performance.
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