Africa-Press – Rwanda. Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva has pointed at the need to provide accommodation and transport support for workers at Gabiro Agribusiness Hub, a key agricultural project in Eastern Province.
He made the remarks during his visit to the hub in Nyagatare District on August 9. The hub is a flagship initiative aimed at boosting food security, reducing trade imbalances, and creating employment, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources.
The visit marked the second and final day of the Prime Minister’s tour of agricultural projects across Eastern Province, which began on August 8.
Currently, about 6,000 people are employed by the project, according to Aloysius Ngarambe, its Chief Executive Officer.
A total of seven firms have already invested in the hub, with ventures covering various agricultural areas including maize and horticulture including fruits and vegetables.
Since the project is in its first phase which covers of 5,600 hectares, the number of employees is likely to be higher in the second one which will have 10,000 hectares, bringing the total hub acreage to 15,600 hectares.
Kinvest, a company growing horticulture crops including green beans, passion fruit, and chilli, said it employs 60 permanent staff and 600 casual labourers, which sometimes can reach 800 depending on activities at its farms in Gabiro Agribusiness Hub.
Though the principle is to prioritise the provision of employment to the community in the vicinity of the hub, Prime Minister Nsengiyumva said that the required workers may be sourced from distant places once they are not readily available from the surrounding communities.
The Prime Minister said that the establishment of transport and housing services should be considered to ease working conditions for the employees at the hub.
“We need to be thinking about how we can house some, if you get them from far away, if we get them from other places to come here,” he noted.
“If all the seven investors start needing casual labourers, then this region will not sustain that. So, we have to get them from somewhere else, and we need to think of how to house them,” he added.
Kinvest Managing Partner, Jesse Ratichek, said that with improved roads, transport provision is possible, citing having bus service.
Gabiro Agribusiness Hub was initiated through a partnership between the Government of Rwanda and Netafim, an Israel-based global leader in irrigation technologies. The project aims to boost food security, reduce trade imbalances, and create jobs through advanced water infrastructure, cutting-edge irrigation, and agro-processing.
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