RWANDA- MODERN FARMING PRACTICES THE WAY TO GO

Stakeholders in the agricultural
sector have gathered at The
Office, a co-working space in
Kiyovu, to take part in an agri-
business forum. The forum was
aimed at promoting different
agriculture based businesses and
enable networking, and it
showed the importance of the
country's most constructive
sector.
Jacob Emmanuel of White Onion
farm, talked about the
importance of monoculture and
permaculture types of farming in
a country like Rwanda:
"Monoculture is expensive and
destructive especially on
Rwanda's terrain, but it's the
best way of achieving good
quality agricultural products," he
said.
The forum also emphasized the
importance of training farmers
on how best to acquire startup
capital, something that has
hindered many of them from
purchasing the right agricultural
tools and expanding their
businesses.
Steve Johns of FAIM Africa, the
first and only tissue culture lab
and propagation nursery of its
kind in Africa, noted that for
Rwanda's produce to compete
with the rest of Africa, it should
ensure production of quality,
virus free plants and embrace
modern farming techniques like
the tissue culture.
"Tissue culture gives predictable,
assured results at the right
timing of the highest quality,"
said Johns. "With tissue-based
farming, farmers are assured of
quality produce in a shorter
period of time," he added.
Through tissue culture, the
company projects to bring in $10
million of revenue within the
next four years, thus a profit of $
4.5 million in the same time.
The farmers and agribusiness
professionals agreed that
modern technology is the way to
get the best out Rwanda's arable
land.