To safeguard environment, to reduce operating costs, to implement new standards such as water and energy saving and a new operational configuration of factories, to remove hazardous chemicals from the tanning processes. Such are some of the aims of the task force, formed by Rwanda’s government four agencies to upgrade, in the next 7 years, the national leather industry and help it operate in compliance with international standards. “We are considerably investing a lot of energies in the cluster – remarks a representative of NIRDA, the national Research and Development agency, while talking to local press – : the whole leather industry needs clean technology throughout the tanning process, from breeding farms to slaughterhouses, till the manufacturing of the finished product, including hides conservation and tanning”. At present, the task force does not have a budget yet, though it is expected to allocate funds to support training and machinery investments in small and medium-sized enterprises.
