Why agriculture in Rwanda still falls short of set targets

The article highlights the challenges Rwanda's agricultural sector is facing in achieving its targets under the National Strategy for Transformation (NST) by 2024. The Ministry of Agriculture's 2021-2022 report reveals low performance in major crop production and agricultural lending, with maize, beans, and soybean production falling short of targets by 46%, 32%, and 39% respectively. The sector received only 4.8% of total loans, far from the targeted 10.4%. Farmers face challenges such as high fertiliser prices, low-quality seeds, and climate change, which have led to reduced yields and profitability. In response, the government is implementing interventions like scaling up irrigation, providing quality seeds, and free fertilisers, and launching the Commercialisation and De-Risking for Agricultural Transformation Project (CDAT) in partnership with the World Bank Group. This project aims to enhance agricultural productivity and de-risk farming through irrigation, insurance, and affordable financing, with an objective to develop and rehabilitate 17,673 hectares of irrigation systems.