Rwanda’s 4th Strategic Plan for Agricultural Transformation (PSTA4) recognizes the importance of the livestock sector for the country’s economic growth and development. As a result, significant support is provided to the sector and to the development of the country’s animal resources.
Under PSTA4, the Rwandan government has set several growth targets for the sector, including increasing milk production from 785 million liters in 2018 to 1.5 billion liters by 2024, and increasing the national herd size from 1.5 million to 2.5 million by 2024. To achieve these targets, the government developed the 15-year livestock sector strategy that identified promising interventions and policies, and a five-year Livestock Master Plan (LMP, FY 2017/2018 to 2021/2022) that set out an investment roadmap to modernize the sector in line with the National Transformation Strategy and PSTA4. The LMP sought to inform the full range of stakeholders—investors, entrepreneurs, development partners, and government agencies—of investment opportunities and development interventions that could transform the sector.
With the end of the LMP last year, it was high time to assess its outcomes. This event sought to do just that: to take stock of the LMP and livestock sector development more generally, and to explore future sector priorities. The event was co-organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Livestock Institute (ILRI), as part of the CGIAR initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS) initiative and the IFPRI Rwanda Strategy Support Program, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI).
David Spielman, the outgoing head of IFPRI’s Rwanda Strategy Support Program, opened the event with a short welcome that highlighted the critical importance of livestock to Rwanda—not only as a commodity for production and consumption purposes, but also for national heritage. Jean Claude Ndorimana, the Director General, for Animal Resources Development at MINAGRI then provided keynote remarks emphasizing the importance of all animal resources—livestock, poultry, and fisheries—to Rwanda, the role of planning and analysis in informing national transformation strategies, and the need for a Animal Resources Strategy to inform the design of PSTA5 (2024-2030). He highlighted key issues for the new Animal Resources Strategy and PSTA5 to include, most notably the need to urgently address the contribution of R&D, climate change adaptation, expansion of livestock trade, improvement of food safety, and a focus on gender and inclusion. He closed with an encouragement for all sector stakeholders to partner around animal resources development, urging them to collaborate on data-driven and evidence-based innovations to transform the animal resources sector in Rwanda.
Felix Ngamije, the Country Coordinator for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems, kicked the event off with a deep dive into the findings from an assessment of the LMP. His remarks focused on both highlights and shortcomings of the LMP and opened the door to a rich discussion about lessons learned—and not learned. Solange Uwituze, Deputy Director General, Animal Resources Research and Technology Transfer at the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) provided a detailed reflection on the assessment’s findings, reiterating the importance of the LMP as a vehicle for mobilizing investment and engaging partners in the sector, and validating many of the key findings.
A key message emerging from the discussion was that the next Animal Resources Strategy will need to be closely aligned to PSTA5 and will have to take on a stronger, more holistic food systems perspective, and not focus solely on boosting production.
Key partners weighed in on these issues next. Emmanuel Bahati, Manager of the Partnership for Resilient and Inclusive Small Stock Market Project (PRISM) at Heifer International, introduced the importance of livestock on income, nutrition, and women’s empowerment. Dennis Karamuzi, the Chief of Party for the Land O’Lakes Venture 37- Orora Wihaze activity (“Raise Animals for Self-Sufficiency”) reminded participants of the importance of improving household consumption of animal-sourced foods through awareness campaigns and behavior change communications to address health and nutrition in Rwanda. Their remarks helped steer the discussion from an emphasis on production targets to a better understanding of animal resources in Rwanda’s wider food system.
Damien Shumbusha from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rwanda demonstrated the need to conduct more extensive policy analysis of livestock sector inputs, focusing on interventions that affect the quality, quantity, and availability of animal feed, medicines, and vaccines, and the role of subsidies to improve access and affordability. His remarks were echoed by Joseph Karugia, a Principal Scientist for Agricultural Economist and Policy at ILRI and the CGIAR Kenya Country Convenor, who went on to discuss the importance of livestock sector analysis, planning, and policy in preparation for the PSTA5 design phase. He explained that going forward, ILRI, IFPRI and their many research collaborators in Rwanda—and working in close coordination with MINAGRI—will reach out to sector stakeholders to conduct policy-relevant analysis to inform the Animal Resources Strategy and the PSTA5 design process. This workstream will be accompanied by efforts to improve the capabilities of MINAGRI and its partners in value chain analysis, and to share methods, tools, and data to ensure that animal resources receive the attention they deserve in Rwanda. Clemens Breisinger, Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI and CGIAR National Policies and Strategies Research Initiative Lead, reiterated this commitment from CGIAR to this workstream. The initiative, he explained, currently operates in six countries—now, including Rwanda—and seeks to build policy coherence coordination, integrate policy tools, and respond to policy demands.
The seminar was closed by – Director General, Animal Resources Development, MINAGRI, by responding to some of the audience questions on including livestock in the national agriculture extension framework and the way forward to help farmers access veterinary services in all areas. He reported that soon farmer-to-farmer extension approaches would include a livestock component. Further, he revealed that a new veterinary services approach had been developed that will be disseminated soon. After a rich Q&A session, Jean Claude Ndorimana closed the event with a request for the continuous support and collaboration of all stakeholders to overcome the challenges facing Rwanda’s livestock and animal resources sector, and to ensure that the sector accelerates its contribution to Rwanda’s social and economic transformation.
Author
Gilberthe Uwera Benimana- Research Analyst, IFPRI, Rwanda Strategy Support Program
Cynthia Mugo- Policy and Stakeholder Engagement Advisor, ILRI
Leave a Reply