KIGALI, Aug. 15 — The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) on Monday unveiled its strategy for Rwanda’s agriculture transformation, planning to inject about 50 million U.S. dollars toward various interventions over the next five years. “The new five-year strategy is aimed to increase the competitiveness of Rwanda’s agri-food systems in line with the country’s long-term development roadmap Vision 2050,” said Hailemariam Desalegn, former Ethiopia’s prime minister and AGRA board chairperson at a launch ceremony in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. According to the AGRA, the key highlights of the strategy include strengthening the capacity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in agric-business such as seed production, seed processing, and seed marketing, increasing access to finance by working with financial institutions to fund appropriate products that meet the need of the value chain actors and helping SMEs to develop bankable projects. The organization hopes to support more than 500 agribusinesses in the next five years, which will in turn help the project reach 1.5 million farmers with various interventions, it said. Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture Ildephonse Musafiri said the launch of the new strategy for Rwanda was timely as the government embarks on embracing a food systems approach to sustainably transform Rwanda’s agri-food sector.
Xinhua
