Incentives to support agriculture in the East African Community: Lessons for Rwanda
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Apell-et-al.-2019-Policy-Brief.pdf
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- As one of the potential drivers of Rwanda’s economic growth, agro-processing industries are supported with measures including tax incentives, import tariff protection, and supporting infrastructure.
- Analysis of Rwanda’s agricultural market shows substantial policy weight is assigned to staple cereal crops such as rice, maize, and wheat – translating into price incentives for producers, yet growth in productivity is slow.
- Welfare analysis suggests that a proposed VAT exemption for locally processed cereal commodities would have little impact on poverty relative to forgone tax revenues.
- Policy recommendations evolving from the analysis include: complement the current food availability policies with measures to improve access and stability; rebalance public expenditure in support of agriculture towards public goods and infrastructure; and strengthen the regional governance and cooperation framework to allow for reliable market access for exporting countries and stable prices for net-importing countries.