By: Rose Mukagahizi
Some farmers in Kayonza District, who are members of the COPUAIM Cooperative and have been supported by the KIIWP 2 project (Kayonza Irrigation and Integrated Watershed Management Project), say they have moved away from traditional subsistence farming aimed only at feeding their families and shifted to market-oriented agriculture.
These farmers also produce and sell sweet potato vines, which has helped them improve their livelihoods and accelerate their development.
Kabanyana Tereziya, a resident of Mwiri Sector in Kayonza District, says the cooperative has been very beneficial because it enabled them to work together, receive training in vine multiplication, and gain access to a reliable market.
She said: “We were trained in technical methods of growing sweet potato vines, and now the potatoes grow well and become bigger. There is a big difference compared to the traditional farming methods we were used to, because these potatoes are marketable, they grow well, and the harvest is much higher. The cooperative is extremely valuable to us because it provides us with seeds in advance, and we repay after harvest.”
Tombola Pierre, from Gasarabwayi Village, also expressed satisfaction with the progress they have made through collective work.
He said: “We have started harvesting sweet potatoes and our lives have improved. When you need money, the cooperative can lend it to you. This helped me buy land where I now grow rice, keep livestock, and even build a house.”
The farmers further say that working in a cooperative has many advantages, including the exchange of ideas and mutual support. According to them, this has given them confidence that they will no longer face hunger, especially since they have also been provided with irrigation equipment.
Ntagasanzwe Sylvestre, President of the COPUAIM Cooperative, which trades in maize and beans in Kayonza and has 253 members operating in Mwiri Sector, said that after receiving training from KIIWP, the cooperative was able to think more broadly about working with financial institutions.
He said: “This cooperative was formed after our crops kept failing and we were being exploited by middlemen. That is why we saw the need to unite as residents of this area, collect our harvests together, and then look for buyers so that our produce would always have a market.”
He added: “What I appreciate most about KIIWP is that it provided us with entrepreneurship training and skills to compete in the market. It also gave us knowledge in multiplying sweet potato vines, growing beans, and improving maize farming. We have seen many changes. Personally, I learned how to keep records related to cooperative management, such as tracking income and expenses and planning properly. This helps us know whether the cooperative is growing or not. Beyond that, we were also trained to farm on time. Before, we used to farm in a disorganized way, but now we follow the agricultural calendar and have even been able to create jobs for people who support us in different activities.”
Rudacogora Jean de Dieu, an Access to Finance Specialist at RAB working under the KIIWP project, where he is responsible for investment and facilitating beneficiaries’ access to financial services, said that today cooperatives are no longer symbolic structures or institutions that only benefit their leaders, as was often said in the past.
He explained that in Kayonza today, cooperative members are genuinely benefiting from their cooperatives because KIIWP supports the training of cooperative leaders in governance and in protecting the interests of members.
KIIWP 2 is a project jointly implemented by the Government of Rwanda in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), through the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), and implemented under the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB).
