The Second National Agroforestry Conference has been successfully held in Kigali from 28 to 29 May 2024. The event emphasized the importance of adopting agroforestry practices among Rwandan farmers and policymakers to enhance soil protection, increase crop yields, diversify the sources of income, while restoring and sustaining the biodiversity to build a better resilience to climate change.

Funded by the Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) project, the two-day conference was organized by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the European Union, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Belgian development agency (Enabel), the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), the University of Rwanda (UR), KU Leuven and Ghent University.

Rwanda’s government policies, including the National Strategy for Transformation (NST), the Green Growth Strategy, and the Forestry and Agriculture Sector Strategic Plan, aim to integrate agroforestry targets and promote practices that address the needs and knowledge of farmers. In her opening statement, the Minister of Environment, Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, highlighted Rwanda's leadership in climate change initiatives. She noted that the adoption of agroforestry practices "stands as a beacon of hope, offering practical solutions that harmonize the needs of people and prosperity."

Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI/RAB) and the Ministry of Environment / Rwanda Forestry Authority (MoE/RFA) expressed their commitment to jointly enforce and coordinate agroforestry efforts in collaboration with key actors.

The conference provided an opportunity to share key results from research and lessons learned from projects and proposed key technical solutions and recommendations. Among them, the setting of a national high-level agroforestry steering platform has been proposed, to better coordinate actors ensuring synergy and complementarity, to harmonize approaches and best practices, and to better involve and support farmers in the intensive adoption of agroforestry on their lands.
 
170 individuals, including representatives from central and local government, government-affiliated entities, NGOs, farmers’ associations, research institutions, the private sector, and various development partners participated in this conference.