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By Annonciata Byukusenge
Bugesera is a district in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. Its capital is Nyamata. The district is named after the old Kingdom of Bugesera. The district is the location of two memorial sites of the Rwandan genocide at Ntarama and Nyamata.
Climate change affects food security in Bugesera District, Rwanda, through erratic rainfall, droughts, and rising temperatures. These changes affect agriculture, which is the primary livelihood for many residents. (International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology.)
Callixte Munganyiki wakes up at five every morning. His main activity is irrigating maize on a small 2-hectare farm in Biryogo, a remote rural village in Bugesera district in Eastern Rwanda.
The 56-year-old father never imagined that his efforts in the fields would be to irrigate crops in the traditional way due to the long dry season and the effects of climate change that have caused the area where he lives to suffer from food security issues.
“Farmers in Bugesera had a problem of hunger for a long time because it is an area that is often hit by the drought, causing crops to wither and the hunger. Recently, some people migrated to other areas because of hunger.” Said Munganyiki.
He added that, if it was not drought issues, the area around Lake Cyohoha would be flooded, crops would be submerged, and famine would strike. However, the biggest problem is the drought as there is little season rains.
How SAIP engaged to resolve this problem
In 2024, SAIP reached out to the farmers formed in the ABADAHIGWA cooperative in the Gashora sector, and it has 18ha.
Eric Bimenyimana is a coordinator of SAIP in the Bugesera and Gasabo districts. He highlights how SAIP supported those farmers and what they supported.
“SAIP supported those farmers the 75% and farmers invested 25%. The whole project has 154 million Rwfrs. The activities of installation of the materials will help farmers in the irrigation started. We provided them solar panels that will help them with irrigation, and Pomp will pull water from the Cyohoha Lake to the farm.”
Expectations of farmers
The farmers have hope for life, to eliminate food security issues, and to improve their production because they will no longer worry about the long dry season.
Bénitha Mukamazimpaka is one of the beneficiary farmers. She says that the big problem they have is a long dry season causes hunger in their area.
“We thank SAIP for supporting us and for thinking that we have a problem of security issues. These solar panels will help us to irrigate our plants even in the dry season. The production will improve; the problem of dropout will be resolved because some parents decide to engage their children in agricultural activities like irrigation. To irrigate 5ha is not easy for using a traditional system. Now solar will resolve that problem.”
The activities of the installation will finish at the end of the April 2025 and farmers will start to use this solar panels for the irrigation.
The total project cost of 154 million provided by SAIP in 2024.
The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) through the World Bank fund the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Food Security Project (SAIP). The project is implemented under RAB’s Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU).
