Rwanda - The Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources officiated the launch of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology Rwanda chapter

On Wednesday 27th October 2021, The Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources Dr Gerardine MUKESHIMANA officiated the launch of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Rwanda chapter.

During her remarks The Minister said that The Government of Rwanda recognizes the role of agricultural biotechnology to address the challenges facing the agricultural sector particularly those related to the adverse impacts of climate change such rising incidence of pests and diseases and loss of biodiversity.

“In most of the African contexts, biotechnology is the most appropriate tool to revolutionize our agricultural value chain. The embrace of Agricultural biotechnology in Rwanda will help to spur sustainable agricultural development in the face of dwindling factors of production such as limited land” said the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources Hon. Dr. Gerardine Mukeshimana.

The Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) is a partnership platform that contributes to creation of an enabling environment for biotechnology research, development, and deployment for the benefit of smallholder farmers in Africa. Through enhancement of knowledge and awareness on agricultural biotechnology, OFAB builds understanding of the technology and contributes to informing decision making.

Established by AATF in 2006, OFAB now operates in 8 countries - Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria and Rwanda. The OFAB key stakeholders include policy makers, the media, farmers, biosafety regulators, scientists, industry, and consumers. In the third phase of the project, OFAB plans to expand its outreach into Mozambique, and Malawi.