A new strategy aimed at enhancing the dairy sector competitiveness and production has been unveiled by the Rwanda National Dairy Platform.

According to Florence Umurungi, the president of Rwanda National Dairy Platform, the plan will help streamline the dairy sector and ensure proper co-ordination of stakeholders, as well as enhance skills of small farmers to improve the quality of milk and its products.

The two-year strategy will also focus on resource mobilisation, institutional capacity building, increasing consumption of milk among Rwandans and strengthening of linkages between stakeholders in the dairy value chain to spur growth and support milk exports.

Umurungi said it was important for dairy sector stakeholders to work together to make the industry competitive, noting that proper marketing and improving product quality were a must to access export markets.

According to Umurungi, the strategy will also help them formulate policies to strengthen the dairy industry, especially as far as putting safety measures along the milk value chain is concerned.

"Bringing together dairy farmers, processors and consumers will not only strengthen the sector, but also make the country’s milk industry attractive to investors,” she said.

Umurungi, who was speaking during a two-day national dairy farmers retreat in Remera, Gasabo in Kigali yesterday, added that the sector lacked personnel, calling for stakeholders to seek training especially in managerial and business skills.

She said they envisage that by the end of the two-year implementation period, the dairy sector would have become sustainable to improve livelihoods of farmers.

Gahiga Gashumba, the chairman of diary farmers’ federation in Nyagatare District, called for more investment in dairy infrastructure, rural roads, processing plants, as well as acquiring better animal breeds to increase productivity and quality of milk products.

According to Gashumba, rural farmers still face big challenges like access to electricity, credit and market information.

The government dissolved the former sector watchdog Rwanda Dairy Board to boost the dairy industry and empower the private sector to focus on the export market.

The Gir’Inka programme is, besides promoting nutrition and improving incomes of rural households, geared at increasing milk production in the country.