A total of 171 farmers in Gihango Sector, Rutsiro District have been rewarded with Pigs and goats as appreciation for proper planting and handling of trees on their fields.
The International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) , an autonomous, non-profit organization, handed a total of 33 goats and 138 pigs to farmers in Rutsiro district on Wednesday.
Farmers were presented with certificates of recognition for successfully planting and maintaining a satisfactory number of trees on their farms.
ICRAF through its project named “Harnessing the potential of trees-on-farms for meeting national and global biodiversity targets” signed a contract with farmers in Rutsiro related to planting and/or managing trees on farms.
The contract aimed at encouraging farmers to reduce the number of tree seedlings that die after planting. Farmers who achieve indicators of success are paid incentives.
During the event, Uwizeyimana Emmanuel the Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Affairs encouraged farmers to consider Pigs and goats presented as capital that can help them rise out of poverty and highlighted the significant role of ICRAF in transforming lives and promoting agroforestry.
The Vice Mayor urged the farmers to give piglets and goats to other farmers that do not have them.
“Our district has soft soils and on hilly topography which suffers soil erosion.However, we have been placing terraces, planting trees and grass to combat soil erosion,” according to a farmer who spoke to Taarifa.
Nathaniel Nyirimanzi commended the support from ICRAF saying the land conservation efforts have enabled farmers have access to firewood and manure from the livestock.
“These pigs and goats will rapidly multiply and uplift most of us from poverty. We will be able to acquire cattle,” Nyirimanzi noted.
The assessment conducted on July 3 – 7 in Rutsiro showed that 171 farmers out of 273 farmers qualified for incentives at 70% survival rate of the trees planted. At least every farmer planted more than 100 trees.
Details indicate that the Acacia Angustissima and Grevillea in Rutsiro were linked to high survival rates. Paying incentives to farmers improves the attention they allocate to trees and increases chances of a tree to survive.
In high rainfall areas especially in the North and West of Rwanda, the soils are susceptible to soil erosion and face fertility decline. However, in low rainfall areas mostly in the East of Rwanda, crops fail due to sub-optimal water use efficiency.
