ActionAid Rwanda has urged local non-state actors to contribute towards the development of agriculture in the country.
Josephine Uwamaliya the ActionAid Rwanda country director, noted that the training was in line with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP) a continental movement of social transformation for agriculture and food security in Africa.
“The plan was endorsed by African Heads of State in 2003 through the Maputo declaration as a vision for restoration of agriculture growth, food security and rural development,” she remarked.
She further pointed out that CAADP objective is to achieve growth rates of agriculture production to 6% per annum by 2015 in each African country, and also increase resources for agriculture programs to at least 10% of government spending, developing dynamic regional markets and integrating farmers into those markets.
“The government can’t do all these alone, our contribution is also essential so we better work hard and understand very well the issue we’re addressing and food security is one challenge we need to tackle,” Uwamaliya advised.
Uwamaliya’s NGO has several initiatives that promote agriculture production in various rural areas,” I was inspired to conduct this training after realizing that our local NGO’s were not doing enough to promote agriculture, secondly they are not fully aware of the CAADP declaration,” she said.
Raphael Rurangwa who represented the ministry of agriculture at the training’s closing ceremony urged the non-state actors to take part in the policy formulation process including contribution of ideas and assisting in the implementation process.
He noted that government was enforcing policies that promote agriculture and among the efforts include distributing high yield seeds to farmers, fertilizer, pesticides and encouraging farmers to merge their lands for bigger produce.
Rurangwa noted that MINAGRI was working closely with cooperatives in order to ensure better management and one of the ways involve using ICT especially in marketing their produce.
Christine Muhongerwa who represented Safer Rwanda which deals with peace building noted that the training has encouraged her to present issues the society face in various policy formulation processes.
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