The Ministry of Agriculture has launched a national agricultural advisory services forum that is intended to enhance capacity building and coordination among all stakeholders in the agriculture sector. Officiating at the launch, yesterday, Dr Louis Butare, the director-general of Rwanda Agriculture Board, said the forum will promote knowledge and information based agricultural advisory services, which he said will contribute to increasing agricultural productivity. He said it is part of government vision to reach all farmers with appropriate agricultural advisory services. “We need to reflect on our key development blueprints such as the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategys (EDPRS II) and Vision 2020 under which agriculture is recognised as the main sector to contribute to poverty reduction,” he said. “When majority of farmers have access to appropriate and quality proximity service provision, they will be able to share experience and express their needs. This will help our farmers to increase productivity.” ‘Platform for stakeholders’ Rwanda Agricultural Advisory Forum is a country chapter of the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), previously known as Sub-Saharan African Network on Agricultural Advisory Services. Samson Eshetu Lemma, the AFAAS programme officer, said national agricultural advisory services are platforms for agriculture stakeholders meant to share knowledge and experience and also to scale up innovations. According to the 2015 baseline survey on the access to advisory services, access to extension services increased from 32 per cent (2012) to 68 per cent (2015). Joseph Gafaranga, a member and trainer in Imbaraga farmers’ association, said the new forum should harmonise advisory services offered to farmers to help them boost production. “Actors in the agriculture sector have been providing advisory services to farmers, each of them using their own model. This could be the time to harmonise their interventions to avoid duplications to ensure that more farmers have access to advisory services,” he said. The new forum comprises more than 23 actors in the agriculture sector, including government institutions and development partners. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
