Bilateral Meeting with H.E. Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, Minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources of the Republic of Rwanda

Rome - The FAO Director-General met with His Excellency Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, Minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources of the Republic of Rwanda on the margins of the 44th Session of the FAO Ministerial Conference at the FAO headquarters.  

The Director-General welcomed the Minister and congratulated him on his recent appointment. He acknowledged and appreciated the longstanding and strategic relationship and strong cooperation between FAO and the Republic of Rwanda, and  thanked the Government of Rwanda for the support extended to the Organization throughout the years. He further reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to continue to strengthen cooperation in all areas of food security and production. 

The Minister thanked the Director-General for the warm welcome and reaffirmed the government's commitment to continue to support the work of the FAO in the country, and regionally. Both discussed the importance of strengthening the aquaculture sector and recognized the importance of having FAO as a specialized technical organization at the center of food security issues starting with the Strategic Plan for Agriculture, Health initiatives, and the irrigation plan which includes building irrigation infrastructure which is already in process with the assistance of the World Bank.  

The Director-General reiterated FAO's commitment to continue to work with Rwanda on the proposed initiatives starting with the land design to tailor it to be accommodating new farming systems stating that this can be achieved through mixed and intercropping systems through the use of bamboo for construction materials for planting crops or making small gardens on patios for high end building. He commended the people of Rwanda for their commitment in changing the agricultural sector through improved agrifood systems transformation despite the land challenges as the country is mountainous and has a huge soil erosion and land degradation challenge. Minister Bagabe informed that Rwanda is moving towards conservation agriculture to mitigate the land and soil erosion challenges.

The pair agreed that Rwanda needs not only conservation farming to mitigate soil erosion, but it also needs intensive and sustainable farming to make significant impact, as well as the need to scale up innovations. 

In conclusion, the Minister informed that Rwanda would use the World Food Forum (WFF) as a platform to interact with the private sector to attract investment and will also use the opportunity to market the coffee as a priority product.