Agriculture and Livestock Unit

ALCU is a unit that was established under Rwanda Bureau of Standards by the cabinet meeting of Ministers of 27/01/2006 with task of implementing quality control and certification cervices for agricultural commodities and animal products. The idea behind starting up such unit was propelled by the fact that Ministry of agriculture and animal resources is scaling up agriculture production and increasing quantity of agriculture produces for export and local markets which require standards implementation.

The central tenet of Rwandan’s vision 2020 is transition from subsistence agriculture to commercially based production which intends to have significant impact on poverty of rural poor.  Lack of the utilization of good farming practices and standardization was one of the barriers for the achievement. Policy of the Agriculture and livestock certification unit is to promote the standardization activities involved in farming sector by bringing standard practices to the agriculture and livestock production rearing and taking this sector to the markets recognized status. 

ALCU was mandated to provide quality control and certification services for agriculture and live stock products as well as organic products so that the products are assured of their quality and safety to the consumers. Trough quality certification, ALCU is committed to promote the acceptance of Rwandan agricultural and livestock products to the regional and international markets. ALCU is willing to carry out quality control services through inspections for products on the market and samples brought to the RBS labs for testing. In all aspects of technical performance, ALCU will ensure dissemination of possible information required for export markets and training of stakeholders. To accomplish its functions and mission, the ALCU is looking ahead to implement standardization work through the following services: Plant, Animal, and Organic products Certification Services