Rwandan Parliament has repealed the East African nation’s nearly 20-year-old fisheries legislation and replaced it with a more streamlined law that aims to better manage the country’s inland fisheries and aquaculture subsector.
In late July, the Rwandan government approved the draft of the new law, which covers animal husbandry, animal health, and fisheries. The law replaces multiple fragmented pieces of legislation dating back to 2008, which sector observers claim were partially to blame for slow production and trade growth, with a more cohesive piece of legislation that will “consolidate the laws into a single legal instrument to address challenges relating to inconsistencies within the existing legal framework,” according to Rwandan Parliament.
Besides simple cohesion, it also aims to outline sanctions against industrial malpractice, which are not found in the laws currently on the books, and introduce conservation and sustainability best practices.
“The key elements of this new law include, but are not limited to, plugging gaps identified by different studies and research, protection of public health related to animal resources, minimizing misuse of antimicrobials in animal resources, highlighting the key role of veterinary services, promoting sustainable livestock farming, and promoting emerging farming practices,” Rwandan Parliament said. “The existing laws do not adequately cover critical domains such as animal husbandry, genetic improvement, conservation of indigenous breeds, animal feed value chains, and traceability of livestock and animal products.”
Additionally, the government pointed out that the repealed law did not comply with, or adequately respond to, the requirements of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), including its Aquatic and Terrestrial Animal Health Codes, nor with other internationally recognized best practices.
Approval of the new framework comes at a time when Rwanda has reported growth in its aquaculture and fisheries production. The country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources reported that during the 2024-25 fiscal year, the nation’s aquaculture sector produced more than 71.7 million fish fingerlings and over 52,000 metric tons (MT) of table-size fish.
In Rwanda’s National Aquaculture Strategy for 2023 to 2035, projections state the country's total fish output could increase to more than 106,000 MT by 2035, of which around 80,620 MT will be from aquaculture and an estimated 26,000 MT from wild capture.
Aiding in that growth are such firms as Victory Farms, which received a USD 15 million (EUR 12.7 million) mezzanine loan earlier this year from African agribusiness investment firm AgDevCo for the expansion of its fish-farming operations in Eastern Africa, including expanding operations on Rwanda’s Lake Kivu.
