20100719
africanews

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rwanda, racked by genocide over a decade ago, is investing in innovative agriculture, methane gas, fiber optics and ice tea in a bid to become a middle-income economy by 2020, its foreign minister told Reuters on Monday.

The eastern-central African country has invested in new agricultural production to raise food and export output and try to push economic growth ahead of rates in neighboring countries.

"Agriculture in the last 3 to 5 years has been the driver of our economy," Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told Reuters Insider in New York.

"For years Rwanda had been farming in a very traditional, primitive way, but we have now introduced some policies that involve farming crops that work in particular areas and farming intensely. We have moved from just planting and producing coffee to producing gourmet coffee."

Agricultural output has been the main engine of the economy, expanding 7.1 percent in the same comparison.

Rwanda's economic growth is forecast to slow down to 6.5 percent in the 2009/10 fiscal year, from 8.6 percent in the previous period, according to government estimates, due to a drop in commodity prices and global recession.

In nominal terms, the gross domestic product of the country is about $5.7 billion or 3.33 trillion Rwanda Francs, according to the International Monetary Fund.

"We are also looking at areas such as ice tea. For a country that is landlocked, that has proven to be a very positive thing," Mushikiwabo said.