Several agriculture stakeholders in Rwanda have launched a campaign to support the country’s young people involved in agribusiness and who are majorly faced with limited access to capital and markets.
The campaign dubbed ‘Buy from Youth’ is to encourage the youth in various agriculture value chains and enable them bring about the needed transformations by continuously creating and utilising technology in the sector.
According to Dr. Abdallah Utumatwishima, Rwanda’s Minister of Youth, who spoke during the campaign launch at an hotel in Kigali late last week, the move will help reduce youth unemployment and underemployment in agribusiness by creating market linkages and decent jobs.
“With this,” said Utumatwishima, “we are targeting four key horticultural value chains, including tomatoes and passion fruits, which have been identified as having significant potential to offer employment opportunities to young farmers.”
Stakeholders involved
Some of the key stakeholders in the agriculture sector pledging their support towards the campaign include government agencies, private sector actors, youth groups, and development partners.
Dr Ildephonse Musafiri, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) assured the youth of the government’s support and commitment towards the compaing and offer the youth a conducive environment for various sector innovations that they may want to engage in.
“We understand the value of different agriculture value chains in Rwanda and their potential in creating decent income for the young people. From production to processing, transportation to marketing, agriculture presents numerous opportunities for our youth and the government is ready to support them,” said Musafiri.
Among the major objectives of the campaign is to reinforce the commitment of big buyers and industries to buy from young agripreneurs.
Some of the private sector actors such as SORWATOM, Urwibutso Enterprise, Inyange Industries, and a range of hotels such as Radisson Blue, Marriot, Park Inn, Mille Collines, M-Hotel, Ubumwe Grand, Onomo Hotel, and Grand Legacy have signed agreements and commitments to support the youth through capacity-building and market linkages.
Contract farming
‘Buy from Youth’ campaign also seeks to initiate contract farming between big buyers and young agripreneurs.
This is besides supporting the youth towards acquiring modern agricultural tools and farm inputs such as greenhouses for tomatoes, seeds, and pest and diseases treatment for both tomato and passion fruit to increase regular production.
In addition, there will be capacity-building for the youth involved in both passion fruit and tomato to enable them to meet the required standards.
Dr Marie Solange Uwineza, founder of Soledivom Company Ltd, a company involved in the sector value chain said that for so long farming has been understood as a business of the poor, aged and uneducated but it is not so. “Agriculture can be a lucrative business, capable of impacting people’s lives positively.”
During the campaign, Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board assured of its commitment to providing resources and technical backstopping for young farmers, the Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum (RYAF) provides coordination role for young people in agribusiness, while development partners such as FAO and IFAD provided technical and financial assistance.
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