Rwanda commits to tackling post-harvest issues
The stakeholders made the commitment during the 8th USAID/Rwanda Marketplace for Nutritious Foods Community of Practice Meeting in Kigali last week.
Epimaque Nsanzabaganwa, horticulture division manager at National Agriculture Exports Development Board (NAEB), cited tomatoes, where between 30 and 40 per cent of produce is lost before it reaches the market due to poor harvesting and transportation.
There is inadequate post-harvest handling infrastructure such as cold rooms and cold trucks for proper storage and handling of fruits and vegetables products, which calls for investments from the private sector or joint venture through public private partnership, Nsanzabaganwa added.
Horticulture in Reality Cooperative (HoReCo) president, Emmanuel Ndayizigiye, said a cold truck costs about Rwf50 million, a cost too prohibitive for smallholder farmers. Cool stores as well prove to be too pricey an investment for most growers.
Alex Uwizeye, value chain agri-business specialist at USAID’s Private Sector Driven Agriculture Growth project, said the project will provide grant of up to $150,000 for each viable agriculture project. That grant covers 25 per cent of an entrepreneur’s investment.
Rwanda targets to increase horticulture exports more than tenfold, from $11 million in 2013 to $120 million by 2018.
Source: newtimes.co.rw
