The Government has embarked on the enforcement of joint ministerial instructions determining special management and use of Gishwati pastureland in Western Province in a bid to address the identified cases of mismanagement and increase milk production in the country.
Overall, the current annual milk production in Rwanda (for the year 2021) is 891,326 tonnes whereas the national target was over 1 million tonnes under National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) by 2024, according to data from the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development (RAB).
The instructions on Gishwati were issued by the Minister of Environment, Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya and the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Gerardine Mukeshimana, on November 17, 2021.
Speaking to The New Times on March 23, Solange Uwituze, Deputy Director General in charge of Animal Resources Research and Technology Transfer at RAB said that the above instructions were aimed at providing guidance on a better utilisation of farms towards an increased milk production.
Also, she said, they were intended to address issues related to farms boundaries as in some farms there were a significant mismatch between their dimensions on the land titles and their actual dimension on the sites
Such Gishwati farms were distributed among dairy farmers in 2007 and 2008.
According to the instruction, a dairy farmer should not exceed five hectares of grazing area, while a cooperative can get up to 10 hectares. Also, a hectare should accommodate a maximum of two dairy cows of improved breed which is highly productive with a minimum of 15 litres of milk per day.
She indicated that in partnership with local authorities in the districts concerned by Gishwati pastureland, several meetings were conducted to sensitise dairy farmers on their implementation.
"The team led by the Western Province is currently working on the issues of land titles for the farms that were found with such problems,” she pointed out.
Indeed, milk production in the four districts in which Gishwati is located – namely Ngororero, Nyabihu, Rubavu and Rutsiro, Uwituze indicated – was falling short of the targets.
During the fiscal year 2020/21, the total milk production in the four districts covering Gishwati Pastureland, Uwituze indicated, was 115,279 tonnes against the target for the 131,006 tonnes target for the same year, representing a 12 percent shortfall.
Gishwati pastureland at a glance
Gishwati pastureland counts a total of 1139 farms on a land 11,749.86 Ha.
The most recent statistics (2020) of cattle population indicate that the four districts covering Gishwati Area counts a total of 159,891 cattle: Ngororero (53,225), Nyabihu (38,460), Rubavu (35,906) and Rutsiro (32,300).
Uwituze said that Gishwati has a great milk production potential to contribute to the national milk production thanks to its weather favorable to milk production even during the dry season.
Low milk prices, poor roads as a major concern
However, Uwituze observed that the distribution of milk produced in Gishwati is currently hampered by issues of impracticable feeder roads affecting the supply of milk to milk collection centres (MCCs).
For instance, she pointed out that during the fiscal year 2020/21 (from July 2020 to June 2021), over 13,475 tonnes of milk were collected through 22 MCCs located in Gishwati Area, representing 16.2 percent of the more than 83,200 tonnes of milk collected through 132 MCCs countrywide.
Thomas Kalinijabo Gatarama, president of CEMO – a cooperative of modern dairy farmers in Nyabihu District told The New Times that though it was indicated that a stockbreeder should get five hectares of grazing land under the previous directives, some had more than that while others had less.
Talking about the major challenges that farmers faced and negatively affected milk production in Gishwati, he said that they are impassable roads which hinder the transportation of milk to MCCs and dairy processing factories, as well as low milk prices that demotivate them.
Elaborating more on the unfavourable prices to dairy farmers, he said that a litre was being bought at between Rwf100 and Rwf130 in Gishwati, which discouraged farmers. This situation implies that the dairy farmers in the area are not even getting the minimum price of Rwf200 per litre of milk that was set by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2018.
"Producing 15 litres of milk per cow can be easily achieved provided that the milk produce has a ready market that gives good prices and the roads to take the produce to MCCs and factories are in good condition,” he said.
Meanwhile, Uwituze said that a project to rehabilitate the feeder roads in Gishwati has been initiated by MININFRA [the Ministry of Infrastructure] in partnership with districts covering the area and is expected to solve the issue of milk distribution in Gishwati.