From Traditional to Digital: The Impact of Innovation on Rwanda's Agriculture Sector

Happy March dear readers! Today, we want to talk about the digitalization of the agriculture sector in Rwanda. Agriculture is an essential sector in Rwanda, contributing over 30% of the country's GDP and employing 70% of the workforce. Unfortunately, the sector hasn't fully reached its potential in increasing GDP and reducing trade deficits due to various reasons.

To boost productivity in the agriculture sector, the government of Rwanda launched the Crop Intensification Program, which subsidizes fertilizers and seeds for crops such as maize, rice, wheat, beans, Irish potatoes, soya, cassava, banana vegetables, and fruits. However, accessing subsidized agri-inputs previously involved a lengthy manual process of farmer registration, verification, approval, and input distribution. The lack of a digital database of beneficiaries and input management system resulted in inefficiencies and resource-consuming operations.

To address this issue, BK TecHouse partnered with Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) to create Smart Nkunganire System (SNS), a solution that digitalizes the agriculture input supply chain. SNS has significantly reduced the time and resources involved in accessing subsidized agri-inputs by automating and streamlining all key processes of the subsidy program.

Since its launch, SNS has registered 2.3 million farmers and processes over 70 thousand metric tons of agri-inputs (fertilizers and improved seeds) per year.? This has led to an increase in productivity and profitability for farmers and other stakeholders.

Looking to the future, there is still more that can be done to improve the agriculture sector in Rwanda. As technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see more innovation and development in the sector. For instance, we are aiming to drive financial inclusion to farmers through the provision and adoption of cashless payments; and financial services such as micro-loan and micro-insurance schemes via a credit scoring platform. Further, the use of precision agriculture will also allow farmers to optimize crop yields and adjust based on weather conditions, soil moisture, and other factors, which will lead to even greater improvements in productivity and profitability.

We are excited to continue driving innovation and development in the agriculture sector in Rwanda!