By Seif Shaggy Gracien Hasingizwimana/Kigali,Rwanda,
This method helps a lot in protecting the soil by fighting erosion so that it does not lose its natural quality, and it also helps a lot in retaining water in the soil and increasing production in a sustainable way.
This was discussed in Kayonza District on June 26, 2026, the day dedicated to celebrating Farmer’s Day, where focus was placed on showing the significant role farmers play in feeding the country, such as strengthening the economy, protecting natural resources, and building a future that copes with the impacts of climate change.
HIGIRO Jules, Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Development in Kayonza District, reminded farmers that they are heading towards agricultural season A while they are finishing season C.
He said, “we are also putting a lot of effort into it, which is where we will begin to put it into practice, and we ask everyone concerned to prepare for it and to play a part in it.”
He said, “I ask investor partners to look at the many opportunities in the agricultural value chain so they can increase the capacity of farmers, including delivering seeds and fertilizers to them, buying and processing the yield like storing it and bringing it to the market, as well as bringing technology in creating innovations that help increase that yield.”
He continues to say that the problems farmers have should not be seen only as obstacles.
He said, “the problems we have should not be seen as obstacles, but rather we should see them as opportunities and to invest as a way of providing solutions, such as where farmers do not have enough methods for irrigation, it is a great opportunity for investors to protect it where the yield spoils due to lack of storage facilities.”
Faustine Vuningoma, RCCDN coordinator, says that when a drought problem comes, the farmer is the first to face the problem of harvesting because their lives are sustained by agriculture.
He said, “when you do not harvest, it means you will not find what sustains you, but also you do not have a surplus for the market so that you can reach other things including medical care, paying school fees for children, as well as getting clothes, making it difficult for you day by day.”
He said, “this is a serious problem, even though here on earth there are some people who still take it as a light problem, but they have started to be affected by it heavily, such as where they are following how it is in European countries during the time they knew it was a place that is always cold, but now some countries have already reached 41 and 42 degrees of heat.”
Here he shows that this is a serious problem compared to the heat we are used to here on the African continent.
He said, “We must play a major role in preparing to fight against climate change so we can build resilience to cope with it.”
He continued to say that a farmer is valuable because even those who do not farm are sustained by farmers.
He said, “we are sustained by what we buy in markets because there is no single person on earth who does not eat, therefore since we all eat, it means we have a connection with agriculture, and those who do not farm should give them value and know that if you do not work, it would have consequences on their survival too.”
He said, “we owe our lives to you because you go to the field and work, then we meet what you farmed in the markets, giving us the life to live.”
In this ceremony, 12 farmers who outperformed others in taking good care of and conserving their land well were rewarded, where they were given different prizes including watering cans and foot-operated machines used to irrigate their fields, which were provided by RCCDN, where these farmers were asked to make them productive and feel that they belong to them individually, and to understand the effort the project used to give them to them, making them increase production in their fields even more.
Uzamukunda Esperance is a 53-year-old lady living in Rugarama Cell in Gahini Sector, Kayonza District; she is a farmer who farms on 5 Hectares of Irish potatoes, and she says that after being given training encouraging them that farming is useful, she has already brought nearly 20 Tons to the market, and she has nearly 5 Tons in the storage facility, which are the ones she is preparing to plant in agricultural season A that we are about to enter.
She said, “Before, I used to farm haphazardly where I mixed crops, but where I was given by RAB, it entered me into good lessons aimed at harvesting a good agricultural yield aimed at having a surplus for the market.”
Esperance shows that as a lady, sustaining the soil through conservation is something she is going to do in a way that does not require a lot of expenses.
She said, “usually I used to farm by tilling the soil heavily, but now I am going to change because I am given a machine that is going to help me, where I am going to look for land close to water so that I farm in a way of conserving the soil because I was taught it.”
She continues to say that although the number of women is still small compared to men, she herself tries to teach other women and shares with them the knowledge she was also given so that they all find themselves in agriculture that solves their problems instead of waiting for what comes from elsewhere.
She said, “The ladies I shared knowledge with are trying to put it into practice because they also look at me as an example when they base it on how I developed myself, and it gives them the morale to do it.”
Esperance continues to encourage people who take agriculture as a despised job to go by the saying that says ‘come and see from me’ and let us continue to go forward and work because when a job is found, no lady should fear.
She said, “like now, you see when I reach the village I live in carrying the machine I was given, it will be a matter of great pride, you understand that there is no reason to see that agriculture is not developing ladies forward.”
She said, “like now, I have reached a pleasing achievement, imagine seeing a woman like me parking a car and loading crops, it must serve as an example to others where now I farmed maize where I have already harvested one Ton, and the fields are still completely full before I harvest, now I am looking for tarpaulins to harvest into where I farmed it on hectares, 3 Tons.”
Esperance says that the equipment she is given is going to increase her courage because it is going to help her sustain her land, and it is going to help her not to till the land heavily again.
She said, “I encourage my fellow women to be brave and stand up for their homes so that they can be able to hold money because agriculture is very suitable for a lady, and let no one say that she does not own land, even renting it is possible, and everything is possible because the important thing is to first think about it and put it in the mind.”
Esperance, in giving advice to women, did not leave out the youth.
She said, “I encourage the youth to take their hands out of the pockets and farm because there are some I know who ride motorcycles, I encourage them to go to the hoe because on the road they will not pick up money for it to work out, let them put them down and turn to agriculture, instead their motorcycles should help them reach their yield to the market.”
She said, “Youth, there is nothing that will develop you if you do not take the hoe and farm, and they understand it because there are girls I give seeds and give them like 100 kilograms, and it brings a yield for them.”
Nkundimana Venuste, who lives in Kagali ka cya Ruhare, Cyiburara village, Kabare sector, Kayonza district, is also one of those who were rewarded; he says that these prizes are going to make their yield double compared to what they used to harvest.
He said, “being selected among other farmers is a matter of value to me and to my family, because now I am going to farm a lot of chili peppers so that I will also be sending my yield outside the country, because the machine I was given is going to reduce the expenses I used to spend buying diesel because this one I was given does not require using petrol, helping to move forward too.”
Nkundimana says that in the secret he used to get this prize compared to his colleagues, it is because he is one of the first who were able to understand that farming is not about tilling the land heavily, using repeated efforts, and he goes to farm and puts what is known as mulching with grass on top in order to conserve the soil and also to help him so that water delays inside to irrigate fewer times.
He said, “for me, when I irrigate 2 times like during heavy sun, the water remains inside, the plant has no other problem, but that person who farmed a plant without mulching, even if he irrigates every day, the water does not stay inside, it immediately drains and goes away because the sun dries it out of it and the plant does not get it, but for me who farms the soil and covers it, it helps to get a high yield, and other farmers always ask me the secret I use.”
Venuste is a farmer who focuses on the farming of chili peppers and maize; he says that some of the challenges they used to face included times when the pipes they were previously using, drawing it from the dams, used to break, but now he says the prizes they were given are going to make their yield increase on the market.
He said, “among the things I focus on is to use women because they are the ones who have a uniqueness, because nowadays you find they are the ones who love the job, and you find they are the ones who are capable of agricultural works compared to men, because working with them pleases me because they have the thirst to bring home the day’s work.”
He said, “comparing women and men, a woman when she comes to work carrying a child on her back, she breastfeeds him for minutes, where she stood up she works with diligence because even in breastfeeding the child she knows what brought her.”
He said, “And when we have sprayed chemicals on the crops, we first look whether they do not bother the child, if we found it is inside we will work when it has come out, or they bring those who help them to raise children far from the fields so that it does not have consequences on the children.”
Dr Patrick Karangwa, Director General in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), says that the Government of Rwanda has committed to reforming agriculture and animal husbandry so that the country reaches food security and accelerates the development of the country’s economy.
He said, “Through the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, the Government of Rwanda has committed to transforming agriculture and animal husbandry so that our country reaches food security and also gives a contribution to the development of the economy. He said, “Our goal is to reform agriculture in a sustainable way, and that is what it means on the day dedicated to celebrating farmer’s day.”
Dr Patrick asked farmers to accept new ways of farming, and stop farming the whole land as it was done before, but instead use methods of agriculture that restore life to the soil.
He said, “We encourage farmers to change the way they farm their land and do modern agriculture that is not about farming the whole field. Instead, a farmer should prepare only where the seed and fertilizer are placed. Farming the whole land accelerates erosion, and current measurements show that Rwanda loses up to about 27 tons of soil per hectare every year due to erosion.”
He emphasized that protecting the soil is the pillar of sustainable agriculture.
He continues to say that Regenerative Agriculture provides practical solutions including reducing erosion, protecting biodiversity that lives below the soil, restoring fertility to the soil, increasing production in the long term, and promoting the use of technology that uses renewable energy that helps reduce gases that damage the atmosphere and increasing the capacity to cope with climate change.
This ceremony was attended by senior leaders of organizations that implement the Power for Food Partnership (P4FP) Project. They visited where the activities of farmers in creating innovations were exhibited, which they have already put into practice using the method of Regenerative Agriculture combined with technology that uses renewable energy, including the method of irrigating using solar energy, showing a new way that can transform agriculture in Rwanda.
Farmers are encouraged to join together in cooperatives, and to share knowledge.
It is during a time when Rwanda continues to face the consequences of climate change, the decrease of soil fertility, as well as the rise of prices of yields coming from agriculture and animal husbandry.
