Igihe

Author: b_igi_adm1n

  • Rwanda to Have Sufficient Rice in 2016

    President Kagame and other officials listen as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Ernest Ruzindaza explains how machines at the Rice Processing Plant work in Gatsibo District.
    Rwanda will by 2016 have sufficient rice locally produced and this will put an end to importing rice from neighbouring countries.
    About 35% of rice consumed in Rwanda is imported from neighbouring countries.

    Rice prices continue to rise making it unaffordable to the local population.

    The lowest quality rice known as ‘Kigori’on the local rwanda market is produced locally. It costs about Frw 600 per Kilogram. Imported High quality rice costs about Frw 20000 for a bag of 25kilograms.

    The ministry of agriculture has in the last three years established mega rice processing factories in the country especially one at Ntende, Ndatemwa in Gatsibo district which was recently visited by President Paul Kagame.

    Hundreds of hectares of mashlands have been carefully ploughed in Eastern Province to pave way for increased rice production capable of satisfying the local market.

    The permanent secretary in the ministry of agriculture says that more hectares of mash lands will be cultivated to increase rice production to cater for the large local demand for rice.

    However, upland rice has not been adopted. Rice farming is still conducted in low lying marsh lands. Neighbouring Uganda has in the past five years embraced upland rice farming which rapidly increased rice supply to the local Uganda market and export to neighbouring countries like Rwanda and DRC.

    According to the ministry of agriculture, rice in rwanda is currently grown on 15000 Hectares of land but reclaimed marsh lands total 22000Hectares.

    Government targets to increase acreage upto 35000 Hactres by 2017.

  • Rwanda Film Script Writing Winners to be Announced Tonight

    Tonight three winners will be announced at The Award Ceremony of the Film Script Competition at Ishyo center at 7.30 pm. Also a film “LA FILLE DU GRAND MONSIEUR” will be casting by one of the jury members, Georges Kamanayo, which starts at 6.30 pm.

    Young Rwandan filmmakers and scriptwriters (up to 35 years) were asked to develop a paper for a short film on the topic of “Zero Tolerance for Gender Based Violence”.

    In the case of the AWARD the script for a SHORT FEATURE FILM should deal with school related gender based violence.

    • contain the idea of the film (short paragraph)

    • contain the summary/synopsis (1-2 pages)

    • contain a sample of dialogue (1-2 pages)

    • consist of no more than 4 pages in total

    • be handed in until April 30th 2012 as both soft- and hardcopy

    • be written in English language, whereas the film itself is to be produced in Kinyarwanda with English subtitles.

  • Abortion On The Rise at NUR

    Female students joining the National University of Rwanda are reportedly at risk of getting pregnant In their first academic year. surveys conducted have shown that in about hundred female students nearly 36 get pregnant every year.

    A large number of university girls get pregnant at the beginning of their academics because they are young and naïve.

    By this time they just joining a different world where there is total personal independence as opposed to earlier close monitoring from parents.

    Others get pregnant accidentally due to poor protection. Pregnancy in among students is a serious issue, it involves a lot of choices and decisions to make.

    Since abstinence seemingly doesn’t work and that the number of pregnancies keeps growing and yet they are not desired therefore abortion becomes an only option.

    The question is whether abortion is a good option or not, to get a clear idea on that I talked to some of the girls on Campus and got different opinions.

    Very few of them are against abortion claiming that religiously it wasn’t right at all since it means taking away the life of another humanbeing. Besides religion they still thought it wasn’t right to abort no matter what the reasons might be.

    Unless you have been raped and got pregnant, there is no excuse to abortion because it will be seen as selfishness in the way you only focus on your life and not on the life of the one you created.

    According to them, the woman in question was in full consciousness when she conceived therefore she should also be able to assume her responsibilities by having that baby and all that she will endure during and after the delivery( labor,education,raising the child and all other kinds of struggle).

    Those who support abortion had their various reasons; Raising the child wouldn’t be an easy task for the young mother especially in situations where the father denies paternity.

    They alsoargue that the pregnancy may push them to suspend school or even quit for good which means that their future is jeopardized.

    One of the respondetns said that in the Rwandan culture, being pregnant out of wedlock is a disgrace and dishonor to the family and the society will be pointing fingers at the concerned person.

    Maybe she got pregnant unexpectedly while she neither had nor wanted an exclusive and serious relationship with the partner because she only needed a one night stand kind of thing.

    In some cases, they would opt for abortion because she has been raped. They abort because they are not ready to have responsibilities yet.

    Their partners encourage them to abort because they are not ready to be fathers and also because they do not want to lose their freedom when it comes to having different girlfriends, again it is that fear of bearing responsibilities and adopting more serious and mature ways in the new life they will be shifting to.

    The fears to change into a commited life with someone you don’t really love.

    They do not want to get to the point where they have no better choice than to marry the man who impregnated them, they need a second chance to find love and live with the one they really want to be with.

    These are different reasons why abortion should or shouldn’t be legal, but whatever the decision of the pregnant woman, no one should judge her because we can never know what happens in somebody’s life unless we walk in their shoes.

    You can help the person going through such tough times by supporting her and not pointing your finger at her. If she is thinking about aborting, try push her into thinking about the pros and cons concerning the step she is about to make.

  • MTN Launches New Brand: ‘We Are Better Together’

    MTN Rwanda has launched a new brand campaign,“We Are Better Together.”

    The new campaign has evolved from ‘My People, My Country, My Network’, which identifies with all Rwandans and the growth of the country, to ‘We Are Better Together’.

    Yvonne Makolo, MTN Rwanda’s Chief Marketing Officer said that the telecom company started operations in Rwanda over 13 years ago at a time when there were very few foreign investors in the country.

    She said over the years the company has grown with the economic development of Rwanda, introducing innovative products and services that have touched almost all aspects of lives of Rwandan people.

    “Since our inception in the Rwandan market in 1998 we have pioneered many services and products that have had an effect on Rwandans from all aspects of life. For example in February 2010 we introduced, the mobile money platform and to date it has registered more than 475,000 customers and transacted volumes of over Rwf 67 billion since it started operations,” Ms Makolo said.

    “With ‘My people, My country, My network’ our brand reaffirmed that we continue to grow as a network and continue to be relevant to the lives of close to 3 million subscribers across the country. The new brand campaign not only highlights MTNs role in every aspect of people’s lives but it also emphasises the sense of community in the country and how life is better when people come together”.

    In Rwanda MTN has supported and promoted the development of sports. This year alone the company’s sponsorship for the ‘2012 Peace Cup’ soccer tournament was worth Rwf51.4 million.The company has also promoted local musicians and still continues to support all kinds of arts.

    “Our brand has evolved with locally produced music. The success of local music is now synonymous with the MTN brand. The annual ‘Salax Music Awards’, which recognizes the achievement of local artists is sponsored by MTN. Our brand ambassadors, are local musicians. The models featured in all our brand campaigns are proudly Rwandan,”Ms. Makolo added.

    MTN has also put a smile on many by supporting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and community activities. MTN Foundation the vehicle through which MTN Rwanda implements the company’s CSR activities enjoys 100 percent funding from MTN Rwanda, which gives it up to 1 percent of its profit after tax.

    With 300 employees, MTN is one of the biggest employers in the country. Through the company’s distribution channels the company is still creating numerous jobs and is registered among the largest taxpayers in Rwanda.

    Sakyi Opoku, the Snr Manager – Brand and Sponsorship said that though MTN is a global, African brand, with some facets of brand-building differing from market to market, the brand values are all universal and include the same pointers.

    “In Rwanda we have built brand awareness and also want to continue building brand relevance. When it comes to sponsorship we look for properties that have the right fit with MTN’s brand and also with its consumers. Just like in the rest of Africa, in Rwanda its football, entertainment and CSR which fits the bill better than anything else.”

  • Swaziland Economy Collapsing

    king-mswati-iii.jpg
    Swaziland will soon become a failed Economy if it doesn’t contain the existing economic constraints that have even led to cancellation of support from the International Monetary Fund IMF.

    The Kingdom of Swaziland is the last absolute monarch in Africa.

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has followed steps taken by the IMF to withdraw support for Swaziland.

    The AfDB will not pay $100 million budget support due to the kingdom, because it has failed to tackle problems with its economy.

    Last month, the International Monetary Fund withdrew support for the Swazi government’s financial recovery plan, because it had failed to reign in public spending and had presented a national budget that took money away from education and poverty reduction and diverted it to other areas, widely understood to include spending on King Mswati III.

    Since 2010 the IMF has been working closely with the Swazi Government supporting its ‘fiscal adjustment roadmap (FAR)’ – a plan for recovery that included getting more revenue through taxes and reducing the public sector wage bill.

    The Swazi Government drew up the plan and was aided by the IMF in its implementation through a procedure known as the staff-monitored programme. But even though the FAR was the work of the Swazi Government and was completely under its control, the government failed abysmally to implement it.

    Central to the plan was to reduce the public sector wage bill – that of teachers, nurses and other civil servants – by 10 percent. This it failed to do.

    Media houses across the world have consitently criticised King Mswati for ‘leading a lavish lifestyle while his people starve’. It is believed that the King has a personal fortune of US$100 million.

    The extravagant King Muswati bought himself a luxury Maybach 62 sedan worth $500,000 despite his country’s economic problems, the dire poverty of the population. HIV pandemic is affecting 38.8% of his subjects.

    On his recent birthday in April, he bought ten BMW seven series vehicles for himself and several of his wives. He was also building ten new palaces for his wives at a cost of $17m, regardless of the budget deficit standing at swazi currency 800 Million.

  • Food Security: Farm Smarter Not to Plow More Land

    A major Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) says the key to food security is to farm smarter, not to plow more land.

    The strains on agriculture are growing as the global population rises and emerging economies demand more types of food.

    Frank Rijsberman, CEO of CGIAR noted,“Agriculture had been neglected for several decades. We had become used to abundant and cheap food. The world got a wake-up call in 2008, ’10, ’11 with spikes in food prices. People realised that we have to produce an awful lot more food for a growing world population, as much as 70% by 2050,”

    The world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, an increase of 2 billion from the current level. However, to feed that many people, is it simply a matter of planting more seeds on more land?

    Rijsberman explained; “No, actually, that’s the wrong way to go. Crop yields – the amount of crop that we get per hectare has plateaued. It is no longer increasing. The only thing farmers can do is indeed plow under more land and they are doing that at an alarming pace.

    They are doing that now more rapidly than during the green revolution. But if they do that they’re going to plow under marginal lands, key environmental areas. That would be quite disastrous and not a long-term sustainable path,” he said.

    He said the key is research to learn how to get greater crop output from existing agricultural land. That’s one of the main goals of CGIAR.

    “There’s a lot of private sector research in agriculture, but that serves primarily the big commercial farmers. We are serving the smallholder farmers – the 500 million farmers on less than two hectares – that provide most of the food in developing countries,” he said.

    A second goal is to get the latest research into the hands of smallholder farmers as quickly as possible. Information such as ways to better access markets and reduce post-harvest loses.

    Another is to address the issues of climate change, nutrition and gender, since women account for much if not most of the agricultural production around the world.

    Rijsberman said while recent spikes in food prices may not hit consumers very hard in developed countries, they can have a devastating effect in poor countries.

  • Facebook Smartphone Ready in 2013

    In 2013, Facebook smartphone will be available to clients of the Social networking giant.

    In 2010, facebook was reported to have been “secretly” building a smartphone – although this particular project is said to have broken down.

    Facebook recently admitted it was struggling to make money out of its growing mobile audience.

    It is in this regard that the Facebook had been hiring several smartphone engineers—as noted by some facebook employees.

    It is also said that Facebook has hired experts who worked on the iPhone and other smartphones.

    Facebook recently floated on the stock market, has also just launched its own mobile application store.

    The App Center currently offers links to Facebook-enabled apps within Apple’s iOS and Google Android stores but developers will soon be able to write apps to be placed exclusively in Facebook’s store.

    It quoted a Facebook employee as saying the site’s founder Mark Zuckerberg was “worried that if he doesn’t create a mobile phone in the near future… Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms”.

  • Eden Hazard to Join Chelsea Next Season

    Eden Hazard has finally ended speculation about his future by announcing he has decided to join Chelsea next season.

    The 21-year-old Lille playmaker, who had long been linked with a move to the Barclays Premier League, revealed he had chosen the newly-crowned European champions on his official Twitter account.

    He wrote: “I’m signing for the champions league winner.”

    Hazard earlier continued to keep fans of several clubs in suspense by posting he had “made up his mind” who he was going to join but declined to name the team in question.

    There was no official confirmation on Monday evening from either Chelsea or Lille that a deal had been reached over the signing of Hazard, who has been rated at £32million.

    But reports in France suggest the Belgium star has agreed a five-year contract worth as much as £100,000 a week after tax.

  • Attackers on Kabila’s Residence Appear in Court

    The trial of perpetrators of the attack on the residence of DRCongo President Joseph Kabila and Kokolo military camp began this May 28 before the Military Court of Gombe.

    The accused include suspects with military ranks; Colonels, majors, captains and retired military and civilians prosecuted for participation in an insurrectionary movement.

    One hundred twenty-six people are suspected of involvement in the attack on the home of Joseph Kabila and the logistics base of Kokolo.

    The first hearing was mainly devoted to the identification of the accused and the confirmation of charges brought against them.

    On February 27, 2011 early in the afternoon, heavily armed men attacked the residence of the Head of State in the town of Gombe in Kinshasa.

    The Minister of Communication and Media, Lambert Mende had said it was an attack against the residence of Joseph Kabila, adding that the attackers were “heavily armed”.

  • Amavubi Beaten 5-1 in Tunisia

    Rwanda National football team Amavubi was this Sunday walloped 5 goals by the Tunisian national team. Amavubi managed to score only one goal in the weekend friendly match.

    The first half ended with Tunisia leading with only one goal against a goalless Amavubi.

    The second half saw Amavubi score its only goal by Dady Birori and Tunisia scoring 4 goals.

    Tunisia made two extra attempts at the Amavubi net towards the end of second half.