Rwanda Grain Markets

completed

Rwanda is among the poorest and most densely populated countries in Sub Saharan Africa and agriculture is an important contributor to the economy constituting 35% of GDP. Approximately 86% of the agriculture GDP comes from food crops coming almost exclusively from small scale farmers. Despite the good progress in agriculture production, there are still gaps along the supply chain creating a disconnect between production and the industry which has growing demand for quality raw material. This is particularly an issue in the maintenance of quality and in the prevention of aflatoxin in maize due to the wet conditions of harvest in Rwanda. Significant efforts have been made by other donors (including WFP, USAID,CDI,CHAI) to train farmers on better post-harvest practices, yet the most significant aflatoxin risks in the supply chain occur in Rwanda at the aggregation stage. To optimize throughput of stock and reduce aflatoxin risk, better knowledge and upgrades are needed throughout the supply chain from farm to coops, traders and stock keepers. In 2015, the government of Rwanda entered a $66 million JV with Royal DSM (NL) as majority shareholder to form AIFL along with IFCs individual investment of $26 million, a food processing plant manufacturing fortified food for young children and mothers. The Rwanda Grain Markets Advisory project will take a demand-driven and market-led approach to most of the activities and provide technical assistance to aggregators, traders, off-takers, and a few select coops. The IBRD’s Rwanda Agriculture team and IFC have identified activities that will allow for complementarity and an appreciation of IFC’s market-led approach by graduating some cooperatives to a more commercial model and supporting market linkages. The project is planning close collaboration with IBRD’s SAIP project in concrete areas: i) facilitating market linkages for SAIP-supported cooperatives, ii) sharing information on cooperatives to ensure that equipment that will be provided under the SAIP matching grant program will go to the candidates with the most sustainable business plans in place, including rural traders, iii) building on the current IFC AIFL Rwanda project (600717) to continue increasing bankability for the cooperatives that went through the Scope Insight program, approaching financial institutions together aligning efforts to increase access to finance for cooperatives, iv) leveraging the ICT solutions that will be developed by SAIP with project activities to improve efficiencies and market access, v) Sharing of information and embarking on joint missions and a one-WBG team approach.