Women farming based organisations in the Jarama, Murama and Sake sectors of Ngoma district are benefiting from assistance in line with a request from the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), through which the Rwanda Rural Rehabilitation Initiative (RWARRI) implements the Gender Climate Change and Agriculture Support Programme (GCCASP). The project runs in the Ngoma district with World Food Program (WFP) funds through Rural Women Economic Empowerment Programme (RWEE). The financial and technical support is gradually increasing the adoption of conservation agriculture as the future of farming in Rwanda.
As explained by Uwizeye Belange, the Executive Director of Rwanda Rural Rehabilitation Initiative-RWARRI, that is in charge of the implementation of GCCASP, the conservation agriculture that was promoted to women-based cooperatives supported includes the establishment of terraces on sites, construction of solar pumping irrigation facilities, using organic manure, mulching and growing vegetables intercropped with fruit trees and agroforestry.
Uwitije Marie Garette, a direct beneficiary of GCCASP at the Murama site, explained that farmers also learnt how to use solar pumping technologies to irrigate their lands; practice Climate-smart agriculture; grow improved seeds and seedlings; use fertilizers, and practice post-harvest handling and storage techniques.
For Uwitije, all the inputs contribute significantly to increasingthe quantity and the quality of the production. “We are now farming for good markets, and we are getting reasonable incomes that allow a well-being to our families”, she mentioned.
On the other side, Uwanyirigira Ernestine, another beneficiary of GCCASP at the Nkanga site, noted that conservation agriculture has other advantages: reducing the time used to cultivate, weeding, and irrigation. Furthermore, she continued, conservation agriculture keeps fertilisers in the soil for a long time.
The women-based cooperatives under this project are Dukomezanye- Nkanga and Terimbere Sake in the Sake sector, Twaguke in the Murama sector and Tuzamurane in the Jarama sector, having a total membership of 237 women and 51 men,including 31 youth and 14 people with disabilities.