The Director General of Agriculture Modernisation at Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (Minagri), Dr Patrick Karangwa, indicated that Rwanda has a plan to increase cultivated area by 85% in the next five years.
In the NST1 program, irrigation operations reached 71,585 hectares from more than 48,000 in 2017, and the produce from one hectare increased between two and four times.
Currently in the NST2 Program, the government is planning to uphill the area under cultivation in order to increase the agricultural production.
Dr Karangwa indicated that increasing the productivity area will be achieved because there is a system that will be established where every year, goals will be set.
He said, “The NST2 plan includes that we will increase the cultivated area by 85%, which is what the government has committed to do so. When we commit to a five-year strategy like that, it means that every year we set goals, so that there is a budget for it.”
He pointed out that there are agricultural activities that can be done from the large projects that are planned in the budget and there is supplementary work that can be done by partners in collaboration with government, but more than 90% will be done by the government.
“The government wants agriculture to increase by 6% every year, even though irrigated land will not be used immediately, but we want the 6% we have committed to increase every year.”He continued.
He added, “When we look at the increase in production, we want it to increase more than the average number of times. Thus, our population is increasing by 2.5%, so we want the production to increase more to counter the population growth.
Dr Patrick Karangwa, Director General of Agriculture Modernisation at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (Minagri)
Karangwa asked farmers that while government will have already prepared the arable land and set up necessary infrastructure, they should consider its productivity value and maintain its proper management.
Farmers in different areas of the country often report that their crops die or get damaged as a result of changes in weather patterns such as the dry season.
Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) reports that there are 299 areas around the country that have been prepared for irrigation, and currently seven areas where irrigation works are carried out include, in Karongi, Nyanza, Kayonza, Gatsibo and Rwamagana districts.
There are also areas where farmers are carrying out small scale irrigation work with equipment provided for at a discount cost of 50% of the irrigation machines.
Across the country, more than 36,000 farmers have received small-scale irrigation equipment through the Government’s Subsidy Program and Matching Grants through various projects.
A study conducted in 2010 (Irrigation master plan) showed that in Rwanda an area of up to 596,810 hectares can be used for irrigation.
