RUSAGARA MUVUNANKIKO Valens
The Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum (RYAF) has elected a new leadership team, putting in place a Board of Directors, an Audit Committee and an Arbitration Committee to strengthen the organisation’s governance as it works to expand opportunities for young people in Rwanda’s agriculture sector.
Usengimana Sakina was elected Chairperson of the Board of Directors. She previously served as RYAF Chairperson and her re-election signals members’ continued confidence in her leadership.
She will be deputised by Usanase Abdou as First Deputy Chairperson and Cyuzuzo Anitha as Second Deputy Chairperson. The board will also be guided by two advisors, Rwibasira Alexis and Mukeshimana Rosine.
Members also elected an Audit Committee to oversee accountability and financial transparency within the organisation. The committee comprises Manirafasha Jean Marie, Sibobugingo Evariste and Munezero Clarisse.
A separate Arbitration Committee was elected to handle internal disputes and ensure compliance with RYAF’s rules and regulations. Its members are Bikorimana Emmanuel, Mundekere Ishimwe Ange and Mutoniwase Jacqueline.
The elections come at a time when youth involvement in agriculture is increasingly central to Rwanda’s economic agenda. Agriculture accounted for 43.7 percent of employment in Rwanda in the first quarter of 2025, according to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) and young people were more engaged in market-oriented agriculture than adults with 56 percent of youth involved compared to 51 percent of adults.
The government has also set ambitious targets for the sector. Rwanda’s National Strategy for Youth Employment in Agrifood Systems (NS-YEAS), launched in November 2025, targets the creation of nearly 850,000 jobs for young people in agrifood systems by 2029 with an average of 170,000 jobs per year.
A third of Rwandans are aged between 15 and 34 and youth employment is a critical policy issue that directly affects national food security. RYAF’s newly elected leaders will be expected to work closely with government, development partners and members to advance youth participation in agriculture, promote innovation and contribute to the growth of Rwanda’s agribusiness sector.
RYAF was officially launched on 3rd May 2016 with the mission of challenging and changing mindsets among young people about agriculture, influencing the transformation of the agricultural business landscape and positively impacting on- and off-farm job creation, agro-economic development and food and nutritional security.
RYAF is a platform established to bring together different youth organisations, individual youth farmers and entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector, working across sub-sectors including crop production, livestock, agro-processing, inputs and other agro-services such as extension, marketing, food packaging, farm mechanisation and seed multiplication, as well as ICT for agriculture in Rwanda. The organisation currently has over 3,700 registered members and more than 3,200 registered businesses on its membership portal.
RYAF’s first Chairperson was Jean Baptiste Hategekimana, who led the forum during its early years of establishment and growth. Usengimana Sakina has been serving as Chairperson in more recent years and has now been re-elected to continue in that role.
