Supporting Rwanda Agriculture and Livestock Inspection Services (RALIS) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Aninaml Resources (MINAGRI)

Description of the project and Services provided:

SPS and TBT barriers are among the risks that have been identifies as potential obstacles to the swift development of nascent export sectors, such as horticulture and food and animal products. There are a number of government institutions involved in management of SPS measures, including standards, inspections, certifications, lab analysis, however their mandate on this matter are not always clear, with potential overlapping, conflicts of interest and competence that need to be technically reinforced. Further on this, SPS requirements need to be better understood by producers and exporters, in order to be able to comply with them and be competitive in the international market.

The results of the project are:

• Ensuring safety and quality of produce in the food chain, creating new market opportunities for farmers and exporters of coffee, tea and horticulture produce.
• Regular monitoring of pests and diseases is carried out.
• To know and make available the list of pests affecting agriculture in the country hence the need for monitoring and surveillance of pests and diseases.
• The purpose of the National Codex and WTO TBT/SPS Committee is to coordinate SPS activities in the country and to ensure national compliance to CODEX, SPS and TBT standards to promote international trade.
• Animal products like meat and milk must comply with the international standards and requirements including being free from VMPs residues.

Meat handlers along the whole production chain should be aware of Good Hygiene Practices.

The programme focuses on four key deliverables:

• Support to the application of the SPS measures in the Horticulture Export Sector
• Launch of the National SPS Committee
• Capacity building on the use and control of Veterinary Medicine Products
• Capacity Building on Good Hygiene Practices in beef, poultry and pork farms

Each area of support is specified and outputs are expressed into a series of activities to be implemented by the pertinent institutions which are involved in the management of SPS measures, namely MINAGRI, NAEB, RAB, RALIS, RSB.

The services provided are:

• Project/programme implementation/management
• Training
• Institutional capacity building/strengthening
• Quality control