The government of Rwanda has announced plans to improve rice production through increasing scale of land on which it’s grown by 5,000 hectares.
Director General of Agriculture Value Chain Management and Trade at the Ministry of Agriculture, Octave Nshimiyimana revealed the plans and said the government is in the process of allocating the additional 5000 hectares.
“We are set to increase the scale of land through incoming projects by preparing more marshlands to meet local demand. The 5000 hectares will be allocated in different districts, including Kayonza, Nyagatare and part of Rusizi Districts among others,” said Nshimiyimana.
Rice production
Rice is a priority food crop in Rwanda. With an average productivity of 5.8 t /Ha, rice is grown over 12,400 Ha of marshlands in two seasons which makes around 80,000 MT per year. Although there has been a rapid rise in rice production in the past decade, the country has not yet achieved self-sufficiency.
Rwanda annually imports an average of 26,736 t of milled rice. Furthermore, the quality of locally produced rice lags behind that of imported rice. Thus Rwanda’s rice sector is confronted with how to sustainably raise both the production and quality of locally grown rice to meet the consumer demands.
“There are a lot of issues around rice farming which have so far been addressed but we are learning how production of rice and quality can be increased for local factories and have a significant impact on farmers,” said Laurent Ndagijimana the head of the Rwanda Forum of Rice Mill (RFRM).
