Rwanda Dairy Project Launch: Famers, processors’ key expectations

Representatives of Rwanda’s dairy processing industry and farmers, hope that Rwanda Dairy Development Project phase two (RDDP2), will address the pressing challenges they are facing in their daily activities. They raised this concern during the official launch of this project on Friday, August 30, 2024, in Bugesera District.

The $100.37 million initiative funded will be implemented in 27 districts in the next six years. It is funded by IFAD through the Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources. The project targets to support over 175,000 farmers across the country by reducing poverty, increasing milk production and combating impacts of climate change.

The dairy subsector plays a critical role in the realization of the country’s development agenda and to the livelihoods of Rwandans, being a source of employment and income to many households.

However, it continues to face several challenges including seasonality of production, low productivity, poor quality, costly and inaccessible animal feed and high prevalence of informal market for milk, among others.

“Among the challenges we face is the lack of access to dairy cows. We hope that this project will address it. We need insemination services to be improved; to get livestock water infrastructure; capacity building on animal feed farming and get climate resistant seeds”, Floride Nyirangirababyeyi a farmer from Nyarugenge Sector, Bugesera District, said.

James Gatari from Inyange Industries who was representing Rwanda’s dairy processing industry, said pointed out the lack of nutritious animal feeds as a main challenge that affects milk quality and quantity.

“Today marks a vital milestone in our shared efforts to transform Rwanda’s dairy sector into a sustainable industry that benefit everyone in the value chain. Phase two builds on the progress and lessons from farmers’ cooperatives and processors, however significant challenges remain. Those include ensuring production of high quality and competitive dairy products. So far, we have put a lot of effort into improving quality, but the quality of milk is still low”, he said.

“Our dairy industries require around 1 million liters of milk daily to meet production demands and for the export to be successful, it need the competition, price and quality. Currently, all Milk Collection Centers (MCCs) transport milk in cans that cannot preserve the quality of milk. We need a cold chain transportation system and here RDDP2 can solve these challenges”, he added.

Dr Olivier Kamana, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, assured that the implementation of RDDP2 will be competitive, digitalized, inclusive.

“As I officially launch RDDP2, my key message is to assure all dairy stakeholders in the country at large the full implementation of this project. The project will go a long way in addressing challenges affecting the dairy subsector through interventions like increasing the productivity and resilience of dairy smallholder system through enhancing the availability of quality water for livestock and delivery of enhanced animal health and breeding services.”

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Country Director Dagmawi Habte-Selassie said he is grateful for the fruitful partnership with Rwanda over the years, investing in low people.

“We are excited to partner with MINAGRI and other stakeholders on this journey. RDDP2 will modernize the dairy sector by scaling up climate-smart practices, improving financial access through private sector collaboration, and digitalizing the entire value chain,” he said.