Kigali — Rwanda needs to quadruple its investments in agriculture, health and energy over the next five years if it is to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

This recommendation is contained in a UNDP report released at the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali on July 26.

At the launch of the report, Rwanda's finance and economic planning minister, Mr. James Musoni said Rwanda needs to raise the level of investments through combined private and public efforts.

"In the meantime, we need to put in place very good infrastructure that will attract direct foreign investments," Musoni said.

The 2007 National Human Development Report (NHDR) states that Rwanda needs to achieve US$140 per capita per year in the Economic Development Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) period to stay on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"Rwanda needs to raise it investment rate to 50% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to build sufficient physical and human capital to break the poverty trap," the report urges Rwanda.

The 2007 National Human Development Report (NHDR) released by the National University of Rwanda (NUR) in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), recommends that Rwanda's long-term development challenges can be tackled through a targeted public investment strategy which builds human capital and eases key bottlenecks in the economy.

It states that it is possible with reasonable assumptions about economic growth and aid flows, to finance the 'big push' in investments needed to break the poverty trap, provided that the quality of aid is substantially improved.

"In order to ensure the sustainability of its long-term development strategy, and make optimal use of additional resources, Rwanda must maintain progress on governance and adopt a comprehensive approach to social change management," the report says.

The UN resident coordinator and country representative of UNDP to Rwanda, Mr. Moustapha Soumaré said the report represents what Rwandan research can produce and how it can play a key role in the country's overall development.

"For Rwanda to further enjoy the level of development it has so far reached, it needs to tackle agriculture, population and income distribution challenges," Mr. Moustapha stated.

The report stresses that Rwanda's current investments in agriculture are insufficient for it to meet Millennium Development Goal one (MDG1) that calls for poverty eradication.

However, it also shows that Rwanda's head-count poverty rate has decreased from 60.2% to 56.9 % from 2001 to 2006 respectively, but there are 600,000 more Rwandans living in poverty than there were in the last five years.

"Despite a decrease in acute malnutrition among children under five, from 7% to 4%, chronic malnutrition has increased from 43% to 45% of children in the past five years,"the report explains.

It further states that 78% of Rwandan households presently face vulnerability in access to food consumption. Furthermore, 28% of Rwandan households are food insecure. 40% households in Bugesera district in the eastern province are food insecure.

"Rwanda needs to quadruple its investments in agriculture to US$15 per capita per year if it is to break the cycle of hunger and poverty needed to meet MDG1," the report urges Rwanda.

The report further informs Rwanda that it has the highest population density in Africa over 350 inhabitants per square km, and the population is growing at a rate of 3.5% per year.

The average plot size for farming is 0.8ha in Rwanda. The Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that 0.9ha is required to satisfy the nutritional needs of a household.

"Access to safe water sources has been stagnant in the past five years in Rwanda, decreasing by 6.5% in Kigali, despite heavy investments in water and sanitation," it says.

It also notes that 95.5% of Rwandan rural households still depend on firewood for cooking.

Between 1990 and 2005, Rwanda lost 50.2% of its forest cover.