For several years, Jeanne d’Arc Uwemeyimana, from Kayonza District in Mukarange Sector worked as a labourer tilling land for farmers in the area for a wage of Rwf700 per day. This has since changed as she is currently minting million from orange sweet potato vines multiplication and farming after starting an enterprise in 2015.

"I used to work as a casual laborer in farming. Fortunately, I later got orange sweet potato vines as support and planted them on three acres. I got a profit of Rwf150, 000 and that is where my entrepreneurship journey started. ,” she said.

She said that she multiplies and sells sweet potato vines as ‘seeds’  to other farmers adding  that she   also plants vines  on her farmland to  get potato harvest for the market.

"The second time I made Rwf173, 000 in profit from selling the vines. I got training on vines multiplication and therefore I started to lease land where I could grow sweet potatoes,” she said.

She said with the increasing profits, she managed to both buy and lease more farmland where she grows sweet potatoes rich in Vitamin A.

"I was extremely poor. Currently I have over one-hectare farmland I bought from the profits. I also have a forest that I harvest. I bought more land in the village. In total, I have about three hectares where I grow orange sweet potatoes,” she said.

Uwemeyimana said that besides sweet potato vines multiplication and growing, she also joined saving groups to save her funds.

"From the savings group, I also got a small loan to help me to lease and grow more land. I have renovated my house. I used to live in a small house and now I have built a bigger decent house with water and electricity. I also have a modern cow that provides milk,” she said.

Employing other women

The entrepreneur, testifies to having faced many hurdles in her life as a woman, hence preferring to to employ other women so as to help them cope with difficulties too.

"I employ ten women who also feed their families. I pay each of them Rwf1,000 per day and I also give them takeaway of sweet potatoes to feed their children. This is because women also helped me a lot during my hurdles,” she said.

Uwemeyimana urges other women to join saving groups as a way of getting startup capital to beat poverty.

The female entrepreneur ‘status has improved from Rwf150,000 profit in 2015 to Rwf7 million’ currently.

She is one of the women who also got support under Hinga Weze-USAID funded project.

"The project trained me and helped me to exhibit what I do as a way of linking to the market. I also got some farming inputs such as new seeds, wheelbarrows and others worth over Rwf3 million as the best sweet potato vine multiplier,” she said.

Increasing production

With the orange –fleshed sweet potato vines, the farmers’ harvest has increased output from 10 tonnes to between 20 and 30 tonnes per hectare.

Uwemeyimana is also trying other sweet potato varieties.

These include newly   introduced five sweet potato varieties that are expected to increase production.

With only 15 per cent of sweet potato farmers able to invest their own money in buying new varieties of sweet potato seeds,  the yields are still low and sometimes much lower than 50 per cent of the potential yields and therefore farmers are urged to embrace the new varieties.

Stimulating the demand for new five varieties, the yields could increase   from 11 tonnes per hectare to at least 15 tonnes in farmers’ fields while they can produce over 20 tonnes when they are still research stations.

The disease and pest resistant varieties include Cecilia, Esther, New Kawogo, Otada and Kyabafurika.

Sweet potato covers 5.2 per cent of the total cultivated area according to figures by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources.

Statistics of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda indicate that the per capita consumption is 145 kg for sweet potato per year.

In caloric terms, sweet potatoes contribute to 21.6 per cent of the total national requirements