By Viateur Karangwa
Kigali-Rwanda: From 20th
to 23rd March 2016, the Government of Rwanda, through the Ministry of Agriculture
and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), hosted IFAD’s Mr. Adolfo Brizzi, Director of
the Policy and Technical Advisory (PTA) Division and Sana Jatta, Director of
the East and Southern Africa (ESA) Division.
The
officials were received by the IFAD country office before their meeting with Rwandan Government Officials including the Minister of
Agriculture and Animal Resources, Dr. Geraldine Mukeshimana, and Mr. Innocent Musabyimana,
the Permanent Secretary of MINAGRI. Also in the delegation were IFAD country staff,
represented by Mr. Francisco Pichon Javier, Senior Country Manager and Aimable Ntukanyagwe,
Country Program Officer.
On
21st March 2016, the IFAD
team held meetings with the Ministry. The discussions were centered
around delivering the same level of project support for implementation that
IFAD has always provided, said Claver Gasirabo, the IFAD Project Coordinator.
On
22nd March 2016, the team
conducted field visits to IFAD-supported investments in Ngoma and Kirehe
Districts, where the Climate Resilient Post Harvest and Agribusiness Support
Project (PASP) and Kirehe Community based Watershed Management Project (KWAMP)
are intervening respectively.
These
investments include the industrial drying grounds with the capacity to store between
50-100 MT of dried maize throughout the year. The drying grounds are in Murama Sector,
Ngoma District, and managed by the KOREMU Cooperative, which is working to improve
the quality of maize and reduce post-harvest losses.
In
Kirehe, the Directors and the Ministry delegates visited irrigation investments
including the Sagatare dam and marshland, with capacity to store 282,000 m3
of water, usable to irrigate 205 ha of rice in Sagatare and Rwabutazi. They
also met with smallholder farmers receiving support from the KWAMP project in
livestock and biogas development. Finally, the team visited one of the five
communal cattle sheds built by the KWAMP project to enhance veterinary services,
peer learning and collective marketing.
On
23rd March 2016, the Directors announced IFAD’s renewed commitment
to support the Rwandan Government’s initiatives to invest in rural people.
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Visit of rural investments- Rice milling Plant in
Kirehe.
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