The memorandum of understanding on agriculture cooperation between Rwanda and the Central African Republic (CAR) which was signed last week on Friday, offers a world of opportunities for peoples of both countries, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources has said. During an interview on Tuesday, Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze told The New Times that the pact signed in Bangui, covers many agriculture-related areas in a bid to utilise the available arable land in CAR. They include research in agriculture, land use and management, soil and water sustainable management, seed development to produce quality and highly productive seeds the advancement of the sector, crop and environmental protection, climate change adaptation, aquaculture and fishing, as well as agribusiness and agro-industry, Ngabitsinze pointed out. He said that the MoU covers a period of five years, but indicated that it is renewable based on the progress registered in the initial period. Ngabitsinze observed that CAR is a country whose economy is based on agriculture, though the sector is underdeveloped due to the problems [insecurity] that have blighted the country for years, and its small population. “I would say that CAR is somehow amazing in terms of natural resources. It has about 30 million hectares of arable and fertile land, while it has a relatively small population of five million,” Ngabitsinze remarked. Having land for large scale production in CAR presents a huge opportunity for Rwanda which has small land with agriculture production largely small scale, a situation that results in small profits, Ngabitsinze explained. He said that the cooperation presents employment opportunity to Rwandan professionals as CAR wants Rwandan experts to help develop its agro-industry. So far, he said, CAR has provided 70,500 hectares to Rwanda, which are ready for use, adding that they are under the management of Crystal Ventures – a local Rwandan company which is the parent of the agro-processing firm Inyange Industries, among other firms. Potential value chains Ngabitsinze said that CAR has nine major agriculture commodities for which it has made a development plan, adding that Rwanda is currently assessing how the two countries can partner. They include groundnuts, which was allocated an area of two million hectares, wheat sector, with three million hectares, cotton textile sector that is allocated two million hectares, and palm oil sector with production area of three million hectares. Others are corn (maize) sector which was allocated three million hectares, rice with an area of five million hectares, sugarcane sector allocated three million hectares, the onion sector allocated one million hectares, and the tomato sector allocated an area of one million hectares. Ngabitsinze said that currently, Central African Republic has no factory for tomato processing, which he said was another opportunity to explore. Talking about cotton, Ngabitsinze said that the country had already started developing this sector, with some old plantations still in existence, but noted that its performance was impaired by the civil war that ravaged the country. He said that the cotton subsector can help Rwanda develop its textile industry whose progress has been facing a lack of raw materials. “Getting enough raw materials for the textile industry has been a challenge here [in Rwanda] because of factors including small land. But, if we have the opportunity to grow them there through partnerships, we can bring them into the country, then they get processed into clothes locally,” he said. For maize, Ngabitsinze said that CAR wants Rwandan investors to venture into the processing of maize into flour, indicating that the country has just one factory – owned by a foreign investor – that produces small amount of flour vis-à-vis the population’s needs. “This makes it [maize meal] costly because it is their main food,” he said, noting that maize processing requires urgent investment. Citrus sector He said that CAR wants Rwandan business operators to set up a citrus fruit processing factory soon as fruits are abundant in the country. The identified fruit value chains include lemon, tangerine, orange, and grapefruit sectors. “They wanted that companies like Inyange Industries can venture into the processing of available fruits because they get deteriorated as there is no factory for value addition there,” he said. Livestock development Though Central Africans like meat, Ngabitsinze said, there is a lack of it in the country, indicating much of what they consume is imported from Chad. However, he said that the country has a programme to address the issue through developing the poultry sector among others. In the field of poultry farming, the programme aims to produce 2 billion chickens in 10 years, including 1.3 billion broilers, 500 million layers which will produce 15 billion eggs in the long term, and 200 million roosters. In the area of cattle industry, the programme aims to increase cattle production to 10 million heads within 10 years. For the goat industry, the programme aims to increase the production of goats to eight million heads within 10 years. Ngabitsinze stated that the two countries have to establish a joint technical team to work on the implementation of the cooperation MoU, indicating that “we will form it as soon as possible”. Meanwhile, Ngabitsinze said that CAR has a programme to create an agriculture bank, in which it expects investments amounting to more than $25 billion over the next 20 years, adding that the country wants that the bank starts with a capital of $2 billion. This bank, he said, could be important to the growth of the agro-industry in the country through promoting investments into the agriculture sector by providing it with tailored financial products.
