around RWF30 per piece) and use low quality fingerlings gathered from their own ponds or quit
farming.
Most of the raw materials needed for to produce fish feed are readily available, like rice bran, maize,
maize bran, cassava and wheat middling’s. Cotton seed cake and Dagaa are available on the market
but imported from Uganda or Tanzania. Annual soybean production in Rwanda was estimated at 28
000 tons in 2010 (Mujawamariya, 2012).
There are presently no factories that produce formulated fish feeds in Rwanda. Some entrepreneurs
make simple feeds (like meals or simple (extruded) pellets) and try to sell it to local farmers.
However, most of the feeds are imported from Uganda (Ugachick), and in smaller quantities from
Israel and Europe. Also in Rwanda, the absence of manufactured fish feed is caused by a low and
scattered demand, and lack of knowledge on feed and feed management at the farm.
4.5.3 Institutional setting
Aquaculture is a relatively new agricultural practice compared to crop and livestock husbandry. It
remains unfamiliar to several stakeholders including advisory service providers. In many aspects
aquaculture is a technology-driven sector that requires farmer responsive research. Presently the
Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) is the institution mandated to undertake aquaculture and fisheries
research and training in Rwanda. Limited research aspects of aquaculture and fisheries are undertaken
by the College of Agriculture, Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Rwanda. The
university research station (20 ha) at Rwasave (Butare) is used for training and teaching aquaculture
focused to producing extension agents. Absence of research institutional capacity underlies the paucity
of information on the water quality environment, ecology, fish stocks, reproductive and feed ecology,
fish migrations, gear technology, aquaculture technologies such as induced spawning, feeding,
genetics and selective breeding, production systems design, post-harvest processing, value addition,
product development, data collection, socio-economics and others.
Currently there is no institution offering professional training in the domain of aquaculture and
fisheries in Rwanda. However, some colleges and the University of Rwanda (former NUR) offer some
aspects of aquaculture and fisheries as modules or course units. On the whole however, training in
fisheries and aquaculture is weak and does not produce manpower that is responsive to the changing
needs of stakeholders in the sub-sector. The limited training offered by some tertiary institutions
produces underprepared manpower which compounds the technology question through wrong advice
to the resource managers, fishers and farmers. The shortage of trained staff in aquaculture and
fisheries is discernable at Districts and lower levels where the sector is a responsibility of professionals
of other disciplines.
The fisheries desk officer in RAB is responsible for Advisory services in Aquaculture and fisheries in the
whole country. Presently AFAS Rwanda Ltd, a private company offers technical support to a number of
cooperatives and fishers. The capacity for both RAB and AFAS Rwanda Ltd to offer advisory services to
the stakeholders is limited by manpower, logistical support, and technical infrastructure. There are a
few private consultants but they are also unable to meet demand from increasing numbers of people
interested in fish farming.
4.5.4 Policy and regulation
Management and implementation of fisheries policies and aquaculture is a mandate of RAB which is
one of the agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) (Annex 9
Organisation structure). Under RAB the Fisheries and aquaculture section is headed by a desk officer.
Prior to the formation of RAB, fisheries and aquaculture was under the department of Animal
Husbandry which also included Animal Production, Veterinary Services, and Fisheries and Aquaculture
divisions. This structure was reduced to a desk and transferred to RAB at its set up in July 2011.
At local government level Fisheries and Aquaculture is the responsibility of the Veterinary or
Agricultural officers. The District Veterinary Officer is in charge of livestock activities, including
extension work and implementation of the fishery and aquaculture policy. The only fisheries officers at
4.5.5 Business environment
Rwanda performed well in a number of the World Bank's global Ease of Doing Business indicators,
ranking 54th and 32th in 2013 and in 2014, respectively. When compared to other EAC countries,
Rwanda ranks highest (see Table 7).
Table 7
Rwanda's ranking compared to other EAC countries in 2014
Country Global rank Regional rank
Rwanda 32 1
Kenya 129 2
Uganda 132 3
Burundi 140 4
Tanzania 145 5
Ranking out of 183 economies: 1= best and 189 is the worst performer.
Source: World bank (2014).
Table 8 provides some more detailed information on doing business in Rwanda and other EAC
countries. The overall score has improved a lot in 2014, reflecting higher scores for most of the
indicators. In six of the ten pillars of doing business Rwanda improved herself. The top constrains for
firms to investment in Rwanda were trading across borders and dealing with construction permits
(World Bank & IFC, 2013).
