Irrigation will revitalise Rwanda's agriculture

Yet another exciting event is taking place in our beautiful and clean City of Kigali, the East African Business Summit Programme. The topic this time round is, ‘Positioning East Africa for Inclusive Prosperity in 2020 and Beyond’. This is an extremely high level event, with CEOs, cabinet ministers, directors and alike, of many major companies and institutions checking into the city of 1000 hills and only more opportunities. The underlying purpose of this conference isn’t something we haven’t heard before but it is exciting that the topic isn’t dead. The dream of cross border prosperity is still alive and well. The tricky part always comes down to execution. As much as we are aiming to be an integrated ‘unit’, each nation is looking at their own prosperity. So how is each nation going to prosper on its own to achieve collective prosperity? The way I see it working (and I assume this is the way it works), is that each nation focuses on what they are good at and then we begin to ‘share’ (trade). So what is Rwanda going to do?I am no fortune telling neither do I have a crystal ball but my guess for Rwanda is agriculture. Approximately two months ago it was reported that the government unveiled a 50 per cent subsidy to be available to farmers to promote irrigation. This is a huge investment in the agriculture sector. This is well in line with Vision 2020, as we are aiming to be a more knowledge based economy. This, like any other investment is due to the fact that government has seen a great deal of potential in this sector and the returns that it will yield. According to GDP figures, in the first quarter of 2014, the agriculture sector grew by 5 per cent and contributed 32 per cent to the overall economic growth of Rwanda. In my opinion, this investment goes to the cost of food imports, rice specifically. This allows us to import commodities and products that we are able to produce here, especially because we have extremely fertile land. Modern farming techniques are one of the ways to enhance the capacity of the population. However, if you look at the situation deeper, we need to move to advanced methods of farming for very obvious; higher yields which can lead to self reliance. Drip irrigation offers sustainable and more consistent production and yields. It is more resilient to climate and weather changes and allows for year round farming. In times where agriculture is developing into agribusiness, this is paramount. Irrigation systems are great for areas in the Eastern Province like Kayonza that tend to get very hot and experience drought. An irrigation system will ensure food security but also increase yields for increased production for trade. Irrigation systems’ major benefit is water conservation and preservation. The conversation of valuable resources such as water allows production costs to be spent elsewhere and focus on other sectors of economic production that will enhance prosperity. The writer is Communications and Business Development Manager, Balton Rwanda Ltd

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Irrigation will revitalise Rwanda's agriculture