World agricultural experts were speaking in a Kigali conference which brought together farm researchers in a bid to take stock of food security challenges in the region and chart the way forward to revolutionize the agricultural sector.
Participants called for doubling of production to meet the population demand of Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC. However Dr Hans.R.Herren, the President of Millennium Institute, USA, cautioned that agriculture should not be looked at as merely increasing production of certain crops.
"Agriculture has to be seen as a system not about few crops," Herren said. " More production is not sustainable. We have to find solutions that do not drain the land."
The President of Millennium Institute urged participants to do away with past initiatives that don't seem to be working to curb food insecurity in Africa. Prof. Shem Martin Ndabikunze, the Director General of Rwanda Agricultural Board said that Rwanda's crop intensification programme since 2007 has started paying off making the country among the most food secure in the region.
" In the first year of the programme, 125,000 ha were consolidated. Today, 503,000 hectares or 63% of Rwandan's arable land is consolidated and the programme ensures that every farm, however small, has free access to improved seeds and subsidized fertilizers," he said.
He also attributed the increase more public investment in the agricultural sector now at 10.1% and expected up to 12% by the end of 2011.
Dr Nteranya Sanginga, the Director General, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, revealed that arable land is decreasing in the region adding that there was need for intensive research and technological innovations in the agricultural sector to magnify food productivity to fight hunger.
The three interlocking global challenges of climate change, resource scarcity and rising and volatile food prices were among issues discussed.
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