Entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector are pointing fingers at limited technical skills for their losses, saying insufficient knowledge about how to implement some projects is standing in their way to profitability.

As if to respond to their cry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources is planning to introduce farmers’ schools that will train them in various ways of profitable small livestock farming, through the Partnership for Resilient and Inclusive Small Livestock Markets (PRISM) project.

“We are tackling the skills gap issues among our farmers and the aspiring farmers. We have developed some teaching materials that can help farmers that include the agricultural agenda. Within the project of PRISM, we have mooted about creating the schools for the farmers,” said Dr Solange Uwituze, the Deputy Director-General in charge of Animal Resources Research and Technology Transfer at Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB).

According to Uwituze, most of the farmers who committed their time and resources in the agriculture sector eventually get the rewarding return, but most of those who do their businesses from the phones, people who invest the financial resources but don’t put in their time, they eventually lose everything.

“We normally get people from different government institutions or public blaming us for their loss saying that what we say is not true but when you look closely, they don’t invest their time in the business,” she added.

Her view is echoed by Jean Baptiste Musabyimana, the general manager of Agri-Business solutions located in Mayange sector in Bugesera district. “Chicken farming is a profitable venture, but we tend to confuse it with the normally farming we know and we try it without first seeking the skills and knowledge on how to go about it,” he said.