Rwanda Ventures Group injects funding and expertise to country's milk production

The Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources Dr Agnes Kalibata of Rwanda has reached an agreement with Trevor Tomkins of Dairies in Developing Communities Inc NFP and John Ruxin of Rwanda Ventures Group to set up a mechanism of cooperation to bring foreign investment to Mukamira Dairy.

According to the MOU, signed on October 1, Rwanda Ventures Group will make an overall investment in the Mukamira Dairy of about US$7 million dollars in order to produce 50,000 litres of milk per day and over time increase it to 100,000 litres.

Rwanda Ventures intends to bring mainly foreign capital and expertise to the investment. It will use the Mukamira Project to serve as the collection, processing, and distribution point for milk from the western region of the country. The milk will largely come from smallholder farmers, through a series of collection centres.
Rwanda Ventures aims to build a state-of-the-art UHT plant at Mukamira and scale it up to meet market needs, creating a significant pull for the smallholder farmers’ milk to address malnutrition in certain parts of the population by creating a variety of dairy products that are healthy and affordable.

In line with this, the company will hold a series of training and service in centres called “Dairy Hubs” from which farmers will be able to get services and learn best practices. The Rwanda Ventures will do this using its own deep technical knowledge and by working with other partners having special expertise and resources. Through this approach, Rwanda Ventures intends to make a significant difference in the quantity and quality of the milk produced in Rwanda.