Accelerating Clean Cold-Chains To Power Rwanda's Agricultural Transformation
The Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) is hosting a pivotal workshop at its campus in Ruburizi campus to explore the role of cold-chain as critical infrastructure to support the recently published MINAGRI’s fifth strategic plan for agriculture transformation (PSTA 5) in Rwanda.
PSTA 5 underscores Rwanda’s commitment to improving food security and nutrition while transforming agri-food systems towards delivering the country’s Vision 2050.
PSTA 5 projections include Rwandan Agriculture GDP growth will reach 6.1% in 2028/29 from 2% in 2023. Exports are expected to reach more than $1.5bn in 2028/29. Other key targets include off-farm jobs, women empowerment in agriculture, reduction of stunting and improvements in the country’s dietary score.
PSTA 5 identifies cold-chain as a key strategic intervention to “Building Resilient and Sustainable Agri-Food Systems”. This two-day workshop (June 11th and 12th) will bring together MINAGRI, farmers, their communities, consumers, industry, and wider stakeholders to drive and support key priorities of PSTA 5. Key themes include climate-resilience, inclusive markets, post-harvest management, logistics innovation, digitalisation, and capacity building.
How to Participate
We aim to ensure broad representation across the entire value chain from farm to fork.
- Limited Seats: Day 1 can accommodate up to 100 participants, while Day 2 will have a smaller subset to refine the outcomes.
- Selection Criteria: To promote inclusivity, we will seek balance among regions, stakeholder groups, and expertise. We encourage women and youth to apply.
If you wish to attend, please complete the application form. We will notify selected delegates prior to the event.
Key Outcomes
- Identify Cold-Chain Priorities for effectively supporting PSTA 5’s goals.
- Develop a Roadmap of actionable steps for ACES, MINAGRI, industry players, and communities to implement these priorities.
- Strengthen Partnerships among farmers, consumers, policymakers, financiers, and service providers to accelerate cold-chain deployment across Rwanda.
- Outline Capacity-Building Needs and training pathways, including potential apprenticeship programs, continuous vocational development, and advanced technical support.
Workshop Agenda
Day 1 - Wednesday 11th June 2025
Morning – A series of targeted workshops will invite different stakeholders - from farmers to consumers - to discuss what the Strategic Plan means to them, identify opportunities, challenges, and explore the cold-chain support and training needed for effective adoption and scale-up.
Afternoon – Following lunch, we will hold a plenary session to share insights from across the morning sessions and develop a list of priorities recommendations, and explore collaboration opportunities.
Day 2 – Thursday 12th June 2025
Morning - A focused working session with a smaller cross-section of key stakeholders will be held to refine Day 1’s recommendations and explore how ACES can best support and act as an enabler.
Afternoon - Building on the workshop outputs to date, we will host a high-level round table with policymakers, financiers and industry to further explore and refine the findings and the strategic support ACES can deliver to help realise the MINAGRI’s objectives of PSTA 5.
A report summarising key findings, recommendations, and proposed actions will be published after the event.
