Managers of all the cooperatives operating in Rwanda have convened in Kigali for a four-day workshop, during which they were reminded that cooperation between farmers and producers is the best way to fast track development.

The call was made on Tuesday by different officials at the launch of a workshop organized by the Rwanda Institute of Cooperatives, Entrepreneurship and Microfinance (RICEM) in collaboration with Land O’Lakes Venture, a non-profit organization with headquarters in the United States (US).

Land O’Lakes Venture37 helps people around the world to grow financially by increasing the quantity and quality of agricultural produce as well as connecting them to markets.

As an institution that has the responsibility of increasing the skills of cooperatives’ managers through training, RICEM organized the training under theme "Promoting Rwandan cooperatives through innovation and entrepreneurship."

The CEO of RICEM, Dr. Olivier Mukulira has explained the main reason behind the organization of the workshop and anticipated outcomes.

"It is a training that we organize every year in collaboration with the American company-Land O’lakes in order to increase managerial skills for cooperative leaders based on what is needed. This year’s focus centered on fostering the cooperation between cooperatives and entrepreneurs," he said.

Mukulira went on to say that there are some cooperatives that work alone without sharing or seeking information from others about market prices, how they can work with entrepreneurs and where to find partners. He explained that these are among reasons why cooperatives are encouraged to work together.

The workshop was officially opened by the Director General of Rwanda Cooperatives Agency, Prof. Jean Bosco Harelimana who emphasized that participants will gain an insight into the advantages of collaboration between farmers’ and buyers’ cooperatives.

"This training is held in the right time because we had a problem where we would find that the cooperative of farmers and the factory processing the produce do not coordinate. That is what we aim to completely eliminate and instill the culture of cooperation,” he noted.

This training program is an annual event that RICEM organizes based on identified needs of the cooperatives. Held for the third time, this year’s edition will last four days.
It has attracted over 100 representatives from different cooperatives across the country.
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