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By Annonciata Byukusenge
At 62, the mother never envisioned that her efforts in the farmlands would only produce food, without expecting development from agriculture. She was farming traditionally with disorder and had never joined a cooperative to insure her crops and receive compensation in case of a disaster that affected them.
Console Nyirahirwa wakes up at 5:00 a.m. every day. Her main activity consists of irrigating crops in a large 320-ha farm located at Nemba, a remote rural village in the Burera district in Northern Rwanda.
“Women are now playing a vital role in agriculture, contributing to current national efforts towards improving food security, because we joined the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) known as Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi. No worries for any loss because our crops are insured,” she said.
Before joining NAIS-Tekana, Nyirahirwa did not harvest enough production because of disorder in her agriculture and disaster affected her crops.
“I harvested five sacks (500kgs) of maize per season on 20a, but now I harvest more than one Ton (1T) of maize per season because I farm professionally with others in a cooperative.”
What’s a National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS)-Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi supports farmers?
Nyirahirwa is one of 2112 members of COVMB Cooperative. Women are 731 and 1381 are men. This Cooperative joined NAIS- Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi in 2022 with 200ha of maize farm in Ndongozi and Nyirabirande swamps. For those ha they insured, they paid 24 million Rwandan Francs for one year.
“In 2024 floods affected our maize farm on 84 ha. Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi compensated us 18 million and 500 hundred Rwandan Francs. If our crops were not insured, we would have suffered a huge loss.” Theobald Ndacyayisenga, the president of COVMB Cooperative mentioned.
In 2025 season A, Nyirahirwa farmed maize on 20a. “In this season the 3a is affected by floods. Tekana compensated me 12.000 Rwfrs. If my crops were not insured, I would have suffered a huge loss.” Said Nyirahirwa.
The COVMB Cooperative rotates crops each season. The crops they farm in the Ndongozi and Nyirabirande swamps are maize, potatoes, and beans.
The same in Rulindo district, women say that Tekana consoled the farmers of the loss they were experiencing due to the disasters caused by the cyclone and flooding.
Dusabemariya Francoise is a farmer in the Bushoki sector, Rulindo district and she is a member of KOVAMABA Cooperative. This cooperative joined Tekana in 2022.
“The insurance compensates us each season because our village is affected by the cyclone and flooding too much. We thank the government for establishing this program of Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi because the loss was extreme,” said Dusabemariya.
NAIS- Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi Achievements
From 2019, 6,448,769,162 Frw has been compensated to farmers and livestock keepers (3,492,644,699 Frw to farmers and 2,956,124,463 Frw to livestock keepers, since the start of this program).
The crop farmers are 161,445. The 84,576 are men and 76,869 are women who take out insurance sponsored by the government under the ”TEKANA URISHINGIWE Muhinzi Mworozi” Program every year.
The National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) known as Tekana Urishingiwe Muhinzi Mworozi implements by RAB – SPIU in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture.
