National Dairy Strategy

The dairy subsector is important to the economic development of Rwanda, and dairy offers a pathway out of poverty for large numbers of households keeping livestock and for those who provide services and value addition throughout the supply chain. The development of the National Dairy Strategy (NDS) was a combined effort of a number of concerned individuals in both the public and private sectors. The strategy will contribute to achieving the millennium development goal (MDGs), especially in the areas of food security, gender empowerment, and poverty reduction.
The mission of the strategy is to create conditions for the provision of wholesome, affordable milk, affordable milk products to benefit the largest numbers of consumers for both the local and regional markets on a sustainable basis.
The NDS has three broad objectives which, when taken together, will achieve maximum benefits to the larger Rwandan society: production/ecosystems, marketing (all activities involving value-added and transformation beyond the farm gate), and policies (institutions, programs, governance).
In order to eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, the strategy will promote program on increasing milk consumption. A main pillar of the dairy strategy is to increase the awareness among the general population of the benefits of consuming dairy products. A nationally coordinated campaign will be targeted at different segments of the population identified in the East African Dairy Development (EADD) Dairy Market Research.
In order to make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the strategy plans activities for improving livestock productivity. Activities include studies to examine the cost-benefits of certain interventions such as the importation of semen versus a bull station at Masaka. The activities will result in average milk production increasing 75 percent by the end of year four for 10,000 dairy households. Activities address feeding systems, reproduction evaluations, and animal health delivery services. Furthermore, the government will support the strengthening of public sector research targeted to specific high potential agro-ecological areas for improved dairy production systems and link the results of the research to lead farmers and their contact farmers.
To enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the strategy plans to increase volumes of Rwandan dairy products sold within the region through emphasis on branding, quality, value addition, product diversification, and targeted trade missions. In addition, the strategy plans to increase safe dairy products for domestic and regional markets. This set of activities will address safe handling of milk along the value chain. This approach is essential if Rwanda is to pursue the goal of increasing regional market share. Trained technicians will be needed along the value chain to train, inspect, audit and certify that a quality milk chain exits. The Food Safety Manual will be updated for dairy products in line with COMESA standards. A plan to meet these standards can be done in forums and training sessions. Finally, the government will support both formal and informal milk channels with the long-term goal of moving actors in milk and dairy value chains from the informal to the formal. Pilot tests will be undertaken to create small businesses and support leadership among women’s groups, youth and farmers to enhance the marketing (feed, concentrates, mineral blocks, etc.) and retailing of dairy products in urban areas.
In the context of governance, the Rwanda National Dairy Board (RNDB) is the key organization leading the implantation of this strategy. The main actors are: MINAGRI and MINICOM to have oversight for restructuring and guiding the RNDB. These ministries with their respective agencies will monitor the progress of the NDS. The roles key stakeholders in the implementation of the NDS are outlined also in the document.